|
|
 |
Roster | Schedule/Results | News | Archives |
|
|||
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
     |
  
Baseball Weekly Notes
April 29, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Results: The Blue Jays swept Ursinus on Monday to secure the top seed in the Centennial Conference Playoffs for the second straight season. Hopkins, which extended its winning streak to a season-high 11 games, defeated Ursinus, 15-3 and 3-1, to improve to 28-4 overall and 15-2 in league play. JHU posted a 4-0 record last week, including wins over McDaniel (8-1), Washington (8-0) and a sweep of Muhlenberg (6-1 & 3-2).
Up Next: Hopkins returns to action Tuesday evening as the Blue Jays travel to face Montclair State in a non-conference contest at 7:00 p.m. JHU then closes its conference schedule with a single game at home against Gettysburg on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. The Centennial Conference Playoffs begin on Friday and continue into Sunday.
The Coach: Bob Babb is in his 24th season as head coach of the Blue Jay baseball. Babb, who is the all-time winningest men's baseball coach in JHU history, sports a 643-244-8 (.722) record. Last season, Babb became the 14th active Division III head coach with 600 wins as JHU defeated Franklin & Marshall, 4-1, on April 6. Under Babb's guidance, Hopkins has captured 10 Middle Atlantic Conference Southeast League titles, seven UAA titles, five Centennial Conference Championships, and made 10 appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Team & Player Notes
* Winning Ways: Hopkins is having another exceptional campaign with a 28-4 record through 32 games. Including this year, the Blue Jays have posted a 403-148-1 (.731) record since the start of the 1990 season. In that time, JHU has won five Centennial titles and reached the NCAA Tournament seven times. The Blue Jays have also won 25 wins for the 12th consecutive season and have not had a losing season in 23 years under coach Babb.
* Centennial Playoffs: After sweeping Ursinus on Monday, JHU has earned the top seed in the Centennial Playoffs for the second straight season with a 28-4 overall record 15-2 conference mark. Ursinus (22-11-1, 12-5-1) is the second seed, while McDaniel (17-10-1, 11-5-1) has earned the third seed and Muhlenberg (19-12-1, 10-7-1) is the fourth seed. The Blue Jays defeated Muhlenberg twice last season to win the inaugural tournament. JHU has won five Centennial Conference titles, which is most in the league, while Ursinus has won three and Franklin & Marshall has won one.
Friday, May 2 @ McDaniel
Saturday, May 3 @ Johns Hopkins
Sunday, May 4 @ Johns Hopkins
* Strength in Numbers: Through 32 games, JHU has displayed its depth with 24 players seeing time in the field and 11 pitchers taking the mound. Twenty-one players have recorded at least one RBI, while 22 players have scored a run and 23 players have tallied at least one hit. Eight pitchers have started a game this year and 10 pitchers have made at least four appearances.
* Scoring in Bunches: The Blue Jays have scored 300 runs in 32 games for an average of 9.37 runs per game. Hopkins has scored 10 runs or more in 14 games, including a school-record 32 runs in a 32-2 win against Washington on April 14. The Blue Jays also scored 23 runs against Swarthmore in a 23-8 on April 6. JHU has scored at least four runs in an inning on 23 occasions. Last season, the Blue Jays averaged 9.09 runs in 44 games for a total of 400 runs.
* Winning Big: Hopkins has won 14 games by seven runs or more this season and is outscoring opponents by an average margin of 6.25 runs per game. JHU is 17-1 in games decided by five or more runs. Last season, JHU won a total of 14 games by seven runs or more.
* Power Surge: JHU has hit 50 home runs in the first 32 games for an average of 1.56 home runs per game. The Blue Jays are seven home runs shy of the school mark of 57 home runs set in 44 games a year ago. A total of 17 players have hit at least one home run, while seven players have three or more homers. Sophomore Paul Winterling leads the team with 10 home runs, while sophomore Mike Durgala is second with eight home runs.
* Clutch Hitting: Hopkins is hitting .356 (155-for-436) with runners in scoring position and .367 (212-for-577) with runners on base. Blue Jay pitchers have limited opponents to just a .205 combined average with runners on base. Paul Winterling has batted .436 (23-for-54) with runners in scoring position, while junior Bryan Eberle has hit .500 (9-for-18) and Mike Durgala is hitting .455 (20-for-44) with runners in scoring position.
* Streaking: The Blue Jays are currently riding a season-best 11-game winning streak since dropping a doubleheader at Franklin & Marshall on April 12. Hopkins also has two eight-game winning streaks this season and has posted nine winning streaks of five games or more since the start of the 2001 season. JHU won 10 consecutive games at one point last season, while the school record for consecutive wins is 18 set by the 1989 team.
* Centennial Dominance: With its 15-2 record in Centennial Conference games, Hopkins has improved to 140-38 (.786) all-time in conference games, which is tops in the league. The Blue Jays are 44-9 (.830) in Centennial contests since the start of the 2001 season.
* Record-Breaking Performance: In Hopkins' 32-2 win over Washington College, the Blue Jays set a school record for runs in a game and tied the NCAA Division III record for grand slams, while Paul Winterling tied one NCAA mark and fell just shy of another. Winterling tied the NCAA record with two grand slams in one game and totaled 11 runs batted in, just one RBI shy of the record. Bryan Eberle added a grand slam as JHU became just the second school in Division III to hit three grand slams in a game. Winterling also hit a three-run home run as the Blue Jays belted eight home runs in the game.
* Brown and Casale Earn Centennial Weekly Honors: Senior Jeremy Brown was named Centennial Pitcher-of-the-Week and junior Tim Casale earned Co-Player-of-the-Week honors for their performances last week, the league announced Monday.
Brown went 2-0 in two starts and struck out 25 batters while allowing just two runs on 11 hits in 16 innings. He struck out a career-high 14 and gave up just one run on six hits in a complete game win against McDaniel and followed that with 11 strikeouts in seven innings in a complete game win over Muhlenberg.
Casale was 7-for-13 (.538) with two runs, six runs batted in, and two home runs in four games last week. He went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in against McDaniel, hit a home run versus Washington and belted a game-winning, two-run home run in a 3-2 win over Muhlenberg.
* Winterling Having Breakout Year: Paul Winterling is having a tremendous season as he leads the Blue Jays in nearly every major offensive category. He is hitting .412 and is tops on the team in runs (40), hits (33), doubles (10), home runs (10), total bases (82) and slugging percentage (.845). Winterling is also 11-for-11 on stolen bases and is fourth on the team with 10 walks. His 10 home runs rank fifth on the JHU single season list.
* Cieri Leads the Way: Senior Jay Cieri has been one of JHU's top hitters this season from the leadoff spot. He leads the team in walks (24) and on-base percentage (.569), while ranking second with 32 runs scored. Cieri, who is batting .413 with 31 hits in 75 at-bats, has also hit five home runs and totaled 16 RBIs. Last season, Cieri walked 30 times, just six walks shy of the school single-season record, and posted a team-best .508 on-base percentage.
*Durgala Solid in Cleanup Spot: After a sensational freshman season, sophomore Mike Durgala is having another outstanding campaign. He is hitting .409 with 36 hits in 88 at-bats and is second on the team with eight home runs and 35 runs batted in. Durgala, who has been hit by a pitch a team-high nine times this season, is also third on the team with 30 runs scored and has totaled nine doubles, eight stolen bases and a .764 slugging percentage. He has batted .631 (12-for-19) is his last five games with six runs scored and 10 runs batted in.
* Pitching Staff Continues to Shine: Blue Jay pitchers have combined to allow just nine runs in the last eight games to lower the team's combined ERA to 3.00. JHU has struck out 241 batters in 245.2 innings while allowing just 198 hits. All 10 of JHU's pitchers that have seen action in four or more contests have an ERA of 3.95 or lower. Senior Jeremy Brown has recorded 25 strikeouts in his last two starts and leads the team with 60 strikeouts. The Blue Jays have five shutouts after posting three all of last season and have allowed two or fewer runs in 15 games.
* Quick Notes: - Junior Bryan Eberle is hitting a career-high .439 (18-for-41), has three home runs and is seventh on the team with 15 runs batted in. Two of his three home runs have been grand slams.
- Junior Tim Casale has hit safely in nine of his last 11 game and is hitting .378 (14-for-37) with seven runs and 10 RBIs during that time. Casale has also hit the first three home runs of his career in the last nine games and is fifth on the team with 17 runs batted in.
- Sophomore Paul Long is batting .520 (13-for-25) in his last eight games with eight runs and 11 RBIs. Long was 4-for-4 with two runs and five RBIs in Hopkins' 15-3 win over Ursinus on Monday.
- Sophomore Mike Spiciarich went 4-for-4 with four runs scored against Ursinus on Monday and has scored at least one run in 12 of his last 14 games. Spiciarich, who is hitting .437 (31-of-71) for the year, is fourth on the team with 27 runs scored, tied for first with 10 doubles and tied for fourth with eight stolen bases. He has also posted a .512 on-base percentage with 12 walks and is tops on the team with three triples.
- With a 6-0 record this season, junior Russ Berger has improved to 15-4 for his career and ranks seventh on JHU's all-time winning percentage list with a .789 career winning percentage. Berger has throw back-to-back shutouts and has not allowed a run in his last 18.1 innings to lower his ERA to 2.68.
|
 |
|
|
||||||
 |
