March 15, 2008

Box Score

CHANDLER, AZ - The #10 Johns Hopkins baseball team tallied three runs in the bottom of the ninth but it was not enough to come back from a five run deficit as #2 SUNY-Cortland picked up a 10-8 victory on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays (4-1) saw their four game win streak despite four RBIs from senior shortstop Jonas Fester.

Hopkins wasted little time in getting to Cortland starter Matt Tone in the bottom of the first. Fester had a sacrifice fly to score the first run and sophomore Brendan Walsh came home with the second run of the inning on a wild pitch.

The Red Dragons answered back in the top of the second inning. The first two batters reached before first baseman Nick DeVito crushed a three run home run to left field. Cortland State was looking for more in the inning but senior Pat Steffee was able to coax a double play ball that senior Todd Emr was able to turn to get the Blue Jays out of the inning.

Hopkins took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Senior Nate Adelman had a one-out triple to right field and he came home on a sac fly from senior Jon Solomon. Fester followed with his second RBI of the day, this time on a double that scored Walsh. Hopkins tacked on its third run of the inning as senior Rob Pietroforte singled home Fester. The Blue Jays led 5-3 after five innings of play.

Cortland took back the lead with six runs in the top of the sixth inning. After the Blue Jays were able to get the first two outs of the inning, seven straight Red Dragons reached base highlighted by triples from Andersen Gardner and Josh Hicks.

The Red Dragons added one more run in the top of the ninth inning. Mike Avery reached on an infield hit and scored on Gardner's second triple of the afternoon.

Hopkins attempted to stage a comeback in the bottom of the ninth. The first three Blue Jays reached on a pair of singles and a walk. Walsh then hit into a fielder's choice to give the Red Dragons the first out of the inning but the Blue Jays scored a run in the process. Hopkins would added two more runs as Fester knocked his second double of the game to right center. Those runs would be all the Blue Jays would get as the Red Dragons got the final two outs of the inning.

Nicolas Blanco picked up the win for Cortland after going 3.1 innings in relief. Steffe took the loss for the Blue Jays after surrendering six runs in 4.1 innings of work.

Gardner finished the day, 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI while Avery was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Anthony Coromato was the other Red Dragon with multiple hits as he went 2-for-4.

The top four Blue Jays in the line-up were a combined 8-for-17 with five runs scored and seven RBIs. Fester finished the day 2-for-4 with four RBIs and a run scored while Walsh was 2-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Hopkins is back in action on Sunday, March 16 against Wheaton College. Game time is set for 10:30 am MST.