March 11, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Week In Review
Hopkins opened its 2008 season with a pair of wins at home. The Blue Jays opened their season with a 13-2 victory over Messiah. Hopkins hit three home runs in the game including sophomore Brian Youchak who had his first career home run, a grand slam. The Blue Jays pulled out the come from behind victory against Rutgers-Newark as sophomore Lee Bolyard's fielder's choice in the bottom of the eighth scored the winning run.

The Week Ahead
Hopkins now travels west for 11-games in Arizona as part of the RussMatt Greater Phoenix Invitational. The Blue Jays kick off their action on Friday, March 14 versus Pitt-Bradford in a doubleheader. While in Arizona, the Blue Jays will face five teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year.

Team/Individual Notes
• With wins in the first two games of the season, Head coach Bob Babb is closing in on another coaching milestone. Babb needs 11 more victories to reach 800 for his career. He would become the seventh active coach at Division III to reach the mark and the 12th Division III coach overall.

• Senior All-American Jonas Fester carries a seven-game hit streak into the Blue Jays' trip to Arizona. Fester has hit safely in the first two games of this season and in the last five games of last year.

• Senior center fielder Rob Pietroforte enters play this week with 11 career triples. Pietroforte needs two more triples to tie the JHU career triples record.

• One of the keys for the Blue Jays is scoring first in the contest. Dating back to last season, Hopkins is 29-2 when it scores the first run of the ball game.

• Sophomore DH Brian Youchak has made a strong return to the Blue Jays' line-up after missing all of last season with injury. Youchak is hitting .571 with a pair of doubles and a grand slam home run in the first two contest.

• Hopkins has the third best winning percentage of any Division III team in the 2000s. St. Scholastica tops the list at 305-72-2 (.803). Wooster is next with a record of 295-77-0 (.793) while Hopkins is next at 269-73-2 (.784).

• Senior right-hander Ryan Kealy continues to give the Blue Jays a strong presence out of the bullpen. Kealy has thrown 6.1 innings of shutout baseball dating back to last season for the Blue Jays. He has four strikeouts during that stretch and picked up the victory in yesterday's ball game.

• Hopkins is 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts through the first two games of the season. Fester has a pair to his credit while Youchak has the other one. Fester now has 61 career stolen bases and ranks 10th in JHU history. He needs four more stolen bases to tie Paul Winterling and his head coach for seventh on the all-time list.

• Hopkins continues to feast on right-handed pitching to start the season. The Blue Jays are hitting .375 against right-handers this season. The squad is led by Pietroforte who is hitting .600 through the first two games against righties.

• Fester recorded the 40th double of his career at Hopkins against Rutgers-Newark. He needs 10 more doubles to tie the JHU career and Centennial career record for doubles (50).

• Senior right-hander Ryan Kuhlman picked up the win in the season opener against Messiah. Kuhlman has now won 10 of his last 11 starts dating back to last season. The only none victory in that stretch was his no decision against Haverford.

• The senior class has hit three of the Blue Jays' four home runs so far this season. Pietroforte drilled the 12th of his career in the season opener. Senior outfielder Nick Venezia hit the third of this career in the opener as well. Senior third baseman Todd Emr connected on the seventh of his career and first since the 2006 season against Rutgers-Newark.

• Junior Dave Fioretti continues his comeback into the Blue Jay rotation after missing most of last season with injury. Fioretti has thrown two innings so far this season with four strikeouts.

• Hopkins has been fairly successful in having the leadoff man reach base this season. The Blue Jays have had their leadoff man reach base 68.8% of the time this season. Fester, Venezia and senior catcher Tony Margve are all 2-for-2 in reaching base when leading off an inning.

• Junior right-hander Chez Angeloni got his 2008 season off to a quick start. Angeloni threw three innings against Rutgers-Newark allowing just one hit and striking out three.

• Hopkins has a combined record of 7-1 against teams it will face in Arizona. The Blue Jays will be facing seven of the teams for the first time in program history.

• Hopkins sits among the top ten in both the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball poll and the D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll. Hopkins is ranked 10th in the ABCA Coaches poll and fourth in the D3baseball.com poll.

• With 17 seniors on the roster, its no surprise that the Blue Jay line-up for the first two games has been senior dominated. The only two non-senior starters have been Youchak in the DH spot and the game two starter Angeloni.