April 25, 2012

Baseball Notes - April 25

A Look Back
The Blue Jays completed a series sweep of Washington College with a 3-2 walk off win at the JHU Baseball Diamond, last Friday. The Blue Jays scored a run in the bottom of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to come back from an early 2-0 deficit. Senior Alex Eliopoulos pitched his second complete game of the season, allowing just two unearned runs on three hits while striking out five. Juniors Ryan Zakszeski and Adam Weiner provided late inning fireworks for the Blue Jays. Zakszeski broke open the scoring for Hopkins with a solo shot to lead off the seventh inning before doubling home sophomore Richie Carbone in the eighth to tie the game at two. In the bottom of the ninth with one out, Weiner drilled a ball over the left field fence for his first home run of his baseball career to give the Blue Jays their first walk off win of the year.

Hopkins capped off its week with an 8-4 win over non-conference opponent, Mary Washington at the JHU Baseball Diamond on Tuesday. Senior Sam Eagleson went 6.1 strong innings while junior Jeff Lynch paced the Blue Jays at the plate going 3-for-5 with three RBI.
    
I’m Honored
Senior Sam Eagleson was named the Centennial Conference Pitcher of the week for the week ending April 23. This is the second weekly honor for a Blue Jay this season and the first one in Eagleson’s career.

Eagleson led the Blue Jays to a 3-1 win over Washington College in Chestertown, MD to open the week, last week. The right-hander threw his first complete game of the season and ninth of his career for the Blue Jays. Over the nine innings, Eagleson struck out a season-high eight batters while allowing just one run on two hits. Eagleson did not allow an extra base hit and only once did he allow two runners to reach base in an inning. Eagleson carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and over the span of the fourth to eighth inning, Eagleson threw 15 first pitch strikes and had four 1-2-3 innings.

Bombs Away
The Blue Jays are leading the Centennial Conference with 23 home runs as a team this season while juniors Mike Kanen and Jeff Lynch lead the Blue Jays with four each.

Three of Lynch’s four-baggers have come against Centennial opponents, including taking Washington College ace Shane Mattingly deep for just his second surrendered home run of the season.

Juniors Kyle Neverman and Ryan Zakszeski and sophomore Mike Denlinger each have three four-baggers on the year while junior Chris Wilhelm has two. Seniors Aaron Borenstein, Scott Barrett and J.R. Santaniello and junior Adam Weiner round out the home run club with one each.  

Five of the Blue Jays six runs scored off of Washington College in the regular season series came off the long ball as Hopkins hit two home runs in each of the games.

Walking Off
Junior Adam Weiner capped off a three-inning rally for the Blue Jays as they came from behind to defeat Washington College last Friday, 3-2, at the JHU Baseball Diamond. With the scored tied at two in the bottom of the ninth, Weiner took a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for his first career home run. Weiner’s walk off was the first time this season the Blue Jays walked off. The Blue Jays are now 3-0 on the season when they go into the ninth inning tied.

Final Punch Out
Of the Blue Jays’ 23 wins this season, 10 of the games have ended on a final strikeout.

Senior Aaron Schwartz polished off a scoreless eighth and ninth against Gettysburg on Tuesday getting Pat Cody to swing through the last strike with a runner on third to put the game in the books for the Blue Jays.  

First to Score
The Blue Jays have scored first in 25 of their 35 game so far this season and boast a 18-6-1 record in those games. Hopkins has out-scored opponents 69-25 in the first two innings and is 11-5-1 when scoring in the first inning.

Off to the Races
The Blue Jays are 75-90 stealing bases on the season with 19 different players recording at least one stolen base.

Top swiper for the Blue Jays is junior Kyle Neverman who is 17-for-18 stealing bags while classmate Jeff Lynch is a perfect 6-for-6 and sophomore Mike Denlinger is 6-for-7 on the base paths.

Lynch and junior Ryan Zakszeski completed a successful double-steal of second and home with Lynch scoring in the Blue Jays’ 11-5 victory over Gettysburg on Tuesday.

Senior Matt Ricci and Neverman completed the successful double steal as well for the Blue Jays in Hopkins’ 6-1 win over Ursinus in the second game of the double header.
 
The Blue Jays stole a season-high seven bases in the second game of the double header against Wesleyan.

As successful as Hopkins has been on the base paths, its pitchers have been equally successful keeping runners close. Opponents are just 34-49 stealing bases on the Blue Jays this season. Senior Aaron Borenstein has caught a team-high eight runners trying to swipe a bag. Senior Sam Eagleson keeps runners close while on the mound, allowing just one stolen base in eight attempts this season.

Catch Them Leaning
As a pitching staff, the Blue Jays have picked off 10 runners with senior Alex Eliopoulos leading the way with four. Eliopoulos is second in the conference in pick offs. In the conference opener against Dickinson, Eliopoulos caught speedy senior Andrew Sterling taking too big of a lead in the third to erase a lead-off single.

Climbing the Ranks
Senior hurler Alex Eliopoulos  has collected 69 strikeouts so far this season to move into fifth all-time on the JHU strikeout list with 211 career K’s. He needs just one more to tie fourth all time.

Senior Sam Eagleson joined Eliopoulos on the top-10 list in career strikeouts this past week. After picking up five punch outs against Mary Washington, Eagleson moved into a tie for 10th all time in the JHU record books with 165.

Senior closer Aaron Schwartz earned his seventh save of the season in the Blue Jays 8-4 win over Mary Washington. Schwartz has sole possession of third on both the career (9) and single season pitching lists for JHU.

Finishing What You Started
Senior Sam Eagleson and sophomore Tyler Goldstein each collected a complete game this season while senior Alex Eliopoulos has two to his credit for 2012.
Eliopoulos went the distance against Dickinson to open the Blue Jays’ conference schedule and then again in a 3-2 walk off victory over Washington. Against Dickinson, Eliopoulos had  season-high 11 strikeouts, which ties his career record for a complete game while coming in just one under his record for strikeouts in a  game - he fanned 12 in the 2010 regional game against Kean.

Eliopoulos now has seven complete games in his career as a Blue Jay and six games in which the right-hander hit double-digit strikeouts.
 
Goldstein threw all nine in the second game against Ursinus on Saturday, holding the Bears to just one run on seven hits while striking out a career-high five batters in Hopkins’ 6-1 victory. This was Goldstein’s first complete game as a Blue Jays.

Eagleson threw a two-hitter against Washington College last Tuesday. Eagleson had span of 15 batters where he started the at-bat with a first pitch strike from the fourth through the eighth inning and only once did he allow more than one runner on the base paths. Eagleson struck out a season-high eight batters in his ninth career complete game.

Leading the Way
Junior Kyle Neverman leads the Blue Jays with 17 multi-hit games while classmate Mike Kanen has 16 and senior Aaron Borenstein has 12.

Neverman, senior Scott Barrett, junior Jeff Lynch and sophomore Mike Denlinger each have driven in four runs in a game while Lynch leads the team with eight multiple RBI games.

Neverman leads the CC with four sacrifice flies so far this season.

Senior pitcher Alex Eliopoulos leads the Blue Jays and is second in the Centennial with 69 strikeouts on the season. Sophomore Tyler Goldstein is leading the conference in walks allowed, handing out just seven free passes on the season in 37 innings of work.


Roll a Pair
The Blue Jays are currently ranked 17th in the nation in double plays having turned 37 this season. The Blue Jays turned a season-high three against McDaniel on April 3.

Junior Kyle Neverman has fielded a team-high 26 DPs while classmate Jeff Lynch has been apart of 25.

Getting Out of a Jam
Senior Blake Platt has been called on in his four years as a Blue Jay to get Hopkins out of tight spots and he has been nothing short of stellar in that role. In his team-leading 16 appearances this season, Platt has inherited 26 runners, leaving 14 stranded on the base paths, including leaving the bases loaded twice this year. In fact, in his career as a Blue Jay, Platt has stranded 61.3 percent (38/62) of the runners he has inherited in his 51 appearances.

There’s No Crying in Baseball
But there is tying. The Blue Jays opened the 2012 campaign with a 7-7 tie of Alvernia. The knotted score marks the first time since 1947 that the Jays opened the season with a tie and the 25th time in school history and 11th time under head coach Bob Babb.

The Blue Jays posted their second tie of the season when they traveled to crosstown rival, Stevenson. Hopkins led 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth and after giving up a run, the game was called for darkness and ended with a 6-6 tie.

Looking Ahead
The Blue Jays will host Haverford on Saturday, April 28 in a crucial Centennial Conference double header with the first pitch slated for 12:30. Before the start of the game, the Blue Jays will honor their 14 seniors.

The Blue Jays hold a 70-16 all time series lead over the Fords and have won the last 11 contests between the two teams, including 10-6 victory in the Centennial title game last season. In fact, the Blue Jays have defeated the Fords for three of their last four Centennial Conference championships.

Following the double header against Haverford, the Blue Jays will make the trip to Allentown, PA to take on Muhlenberg in a make up of last week’s rained delayed double header. The Blue Jays lead the all time series 31-13 and have defeated the Mules in the last five contests.
 
In the Polls
The Blue Jays were selected to finish atop the Centennial Conference this season in a poll of the conference coaches. The Blue Jays are receiving votes in the latest ABCA Coaches poll.
    
Oh Captain, My Captain
Seniors Aaron Borenstein, Sam Eagleson, Alex Eliopoulos and Blake Platt were serve as the captains for the 2012 season.

At the Helm
Head coach Bob Babb is now in his 33rd season at the helm of the Blue Jays’ baseball program. Babb has guided Hopkins to five straight Centennial Conference titles and 18 trips to the NCAA Tournament in his at JHU, including trips to the College World Series in 1989, 2008 and 2010.