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Johns Hopkins Baseball Season In Review
June 13, 2009
BALTIMORE, MD - In a season plagued with rain postponements and all sorts of obstacles, the Johns Hopkins baseball team over came it all, earning its 10th Centennial Conference title as the Blue Jays battled their way to the NCAA South Regional Tournament finals. Hopkins had been conditioned for success. After all, the Blue Jays were nearly a year removed from the best season on record at JHU, a 42-8 College World Series runners-up campaign. And in 2007, Hopkins fell in the finals of the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. 2009 was no different. In fact, it marked the third consecutive year in which the Blue Jays had reached the championship game of an NCAA Regional tournament. The regional finals seemed a far cry from a team that began the season in March at 7-7, as the Blue Jays returned from their annual spring break trip to Phoenix, Ariz. with a .500 record. With no time to dwell, Hopkins embarked on its Centennial Conference schedule having dropped out of the national polls after starting the season with a No. 7 ranking. The Blue Jays defeated Gettysburg, 18-11, before the Bullets waged revenge three days later with a 9-7 win. Hopkins appeared to have hit its stride with a win over McDaniel and a sweep of Swarthmore, all coming on the road, raising the Blue Jays above .500. Senior Dave Fioretti threw his first complete game with 13 strikeouts against the Green Terror and Hopkins outscored Swarthmore 18-8 in the doubleheader. But a rough stretch ensued as the Blue Jays lost four of the next eight, skidding to a 15-12 record and flirting with the danger of falling short of the Centennial Conference tournament. The Blue Jays returned home from Swarthmore to face Ursinus the next day. Hopkins dropped game one to the Bears, but came back in the nightcap to take a 9-7 decision over the top team in the conference. The trials weren't over yet as Dickinson would take two games from the Blue Jays over the next week, putting a serious dash in their playoff hopes.
Hopkins won two over Washington, 12-1 and 8-2 leading into a doubleheader with Muhlenberg. Junior Marco Simmons pounded out 13 strikeouts in his first career complete game, leading JHU to victory at Washington. A win in game two against Muhlenberg would spurr a six-game Centennial win streak, the longest of the season, propelling the Blue Jays into their eighth consecutive Centennial Conference Tournament. The day following the Muhlenberg twinbill came a doubleheader with an old nemesis, the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats, who stood in the way of a conference tournament berth. Everything came together for the Blue Jays as they handily defeated Franklin & Marshall, 15-2 and 15-7. Senior Todd Emr continued to come up big for Hopkins, hitting 8-for-10 against the Diplomats. Emr earned Centennial Conference Player of the Week honors for his string of impressive performances against Washington, Muhlenberg and F&M. Senior Chez Angeloni helped lead JHU through a 5-1 stretch as well, tossing 11 innings, earning two wins and allowing just one earned run in two outings. Winning five conference games that week helped keep Hopkins' playoff dreams alive, but a final test awaited. The Green Terror was the only thing standing between the Blue Jays and their eighth Centennial Conference playoff berth. After several rain postponements, Hopkins would finally face McDaniel. The contest would determine the fourth and final seed of the conference tournament. The Blue Jays left no doubt that they were the team to beat, knocking-off the Green Terror, 26-10. Junior Steve Bejsiuk recorded his first career hit, a home run, against the Green Terror, while senior Ryan Biner tallied two doubles and a homer and added a team-high six RBI. The next day, JHU traveled to Haverford for a Centennial season finale. A 3-RBI homer by Jesse Sikorski keyed a 5-2 victory over the Fords in game one as Angeloni tossed a seven-inning complete game with six strikeouts. The Blue Jays would lead 5-1 after three in the nightcap, but Haverford tied it in the fourth. JHU took an 8-5 lead in the sixth frame before the Fords scored a pair in the seventh to come within one. Junior Greg Harbeck came in to close and pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to earn the save. The series concluded the Centennial Conference season to lead into the conference tournament the following week. Securing a No. 2 seed, Hopkins prepared to host Franklin & Marshall in the opening round. Knotted at five after nine innings, the Blue Jays once again called upon Harbeck to shut the door. The Diplomats opened the 10th with a solo-homer and their final run of the game. Ryan Biner and Brian Youchak singled as David Weinstein entered as a pinch runner for Biner. The two advanced another base on a failed pick-off attempt. James Teta was intentionally walked to load the bases before the Diplomats secured two consecutive outs. John Swarr come to the plate and sent a fly ball to right. As the right-fielder dropped the ball, Weinstein and Youchak scored to win the game and advance with a 1-0 record in the Centennial Conference tournament. In the second round, the Blue Jays matched up against No. 1 seeded Ursinus. Hopkins broke onto the scoreboard in the fifth with three runs and plated six in the sixth. With two more in the eighth, the Blue Jays led, 11-0, before the Bears managed to score in the bottom of the inning. Fioretti earned the win with his six-strikeout complete game, allowing a single earned run. The highest seed remaining and set to face the Diplomats for a rematch, Hopkins saw its final round rained out and was awarded the Centennial Conference title, according to league rules. Hopkins earned a No. 7 seed to the NCAA South Regional, hosted by Salisbury University, and was pitted against Shenandoah. The Hornets took a 3-1 lead in the second that they would not relinquish, moving to an 8-2 victory and sending the Blue Jays to the loser's bracket to fight off elimination. Hopkins picked it up the next day against North Carolina Wesleyan with a 14-2 win. Sikorski knocked a pair of home runs, including a grand slam in the first. His second homer came in the third, as he led off with a solo-shot. But it was Matt Bernardi's long ball in the eighth that broke the Centennial Conference single-season home run record. The Blue Jays hit 70 homers in 2005 for the previous record. Perhaps most ironic was the fact that Bernardi pinch-hit for Sikorski en route to the first home run of his career, which broke the record. Fioretti threw five innings to improve to 5-0 on the year with the win. Up next was third-seeded Salisbury. The Seagulls gained a 6-1 lead after four, but in the fifth the Blue Jays turned it around for a 7-6 advantage. Harbeck entered in the fourth and finished the game for Hopkins, not allowing a run and gave up just two hits in six innings. Sikorski had three hits and tallied six RBI against the Sea Gulls. The Blue Jays downed Salisbury, 11-6, to move on in the elimination bracket to face Washington & Jefferson. The Blue Jays hit six doubles against Washington & Jefferson as Simmons brought home the 10-2 win. The junior had five strikeouts and allowed just six hits in nine frames to keep Hopkins rolling. The final game of the elimination round came against Christopher Newport. Angeloni tossed another complete game for the Blue Jays, fanning seven, while Youchak nearly hit for the cycle with a base-hit, a triple and a homer. Hopkins took its 12-4 lead in the third and allowed only one more run in the final six innings to advance to its third consecutive NCAA Regional final appearance in three years. Shenandoah had stayed alive in the winner's bracket after defeating Hopkins in the opening round and was now fighting for its very first NCAA Regional title. The Blue Jays plated four in the first and held the 7-4 lead after five. Hopkins broke down in the eighth to give up seven runs as Shenandoah took the game, 11-7, and the NCAA South Regional championship. Emr, Youchak and junior Lee Bolyard were all named to the NCAA South Regional All-Tournament team at the tournament's conclusion. The Blue Jays finished the 2009 season with a 28-16 record, another Centennial Conference title and a second place finish in the NCAA South Regional, boosting the program into the top four winningest baseball programs in the country since 2000. The Blue Jays landed eight All-Centennial selections in 2009, the most since 2004. Emr was named Centennial Conference Player of the Year and was joined on the first team by Swarr, Bolyard and Youchak. Biner, Angeloni, Dan Merzel and Sikorski each earned Second Team All-Centennial honors. The accolades continued as Biner and Swarr garnered ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-District honors. Bolyard also received First Team All-Mid Atlantic Region honors, while Biner and Emr earned Second and Third Team All-Region accolades, respectively. Graduating 12 seniors doesn't threaten the depth of a Hopkins team that will return three of its top five hitters in Youchak, Bolyard and Swarr and three of its top pitchers in Matt Wiegand, Harbeck and Simmons for 2010. The Blue Jays will also welcome back 19 more players that gained experience in 2009. |
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