Blue Jays Soar Past Bullets

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GETTYSBURG, PA -The Johns Hopkins baseball team put up at least two runs in the final four innings of the Centennial Conference clash with Gettysburg en route to an 11-5 win over the Bullets for the Blue Jays' fifth-straight win.

Senior starting pitcher Sam Eagleson carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning when he gave up a leadoff triple. After getting two groundouts to keep Clint O'Brien on third, Patrick O'Grady legged out a three-bagger to drive home O'Brien for the first run of the game. Eagleson  got Austin Davis to pop up to junior Kyle Neverman at short and end the inning.

The Blue Jays (17-8-2, 8-1 CC) immediately struck back in the top of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. Neverman hit a hard ground ball to third and hustled out of the box to reach on a throwing error by the third baseman to lead off the frame. Junior Mike Kanen took the first pitch he saw in the at bat deep over the right field fence for his team-leading fourth home run of the season and give Hopkins a 2-1 lead. Junior Jeff Lynch and sophomore Richie Carbone sandwiched singles around the second out of the inning to put runners on first and third before senior Scott Barrett singled up the middle to score Lynch and push the Jays' lead to 3-1.

Hopkins put up four more runs in the top of the seventh to take a comfortable 7-1 lead. Senior Mike Musary started things off with his first hit of the game, a single to right center before Kanen hit a two-out single through the right side. Senior Aaron Borenstein hit the third single of the single of the inning to score Musary and put runners on the corners. Lynch took an 0-2 pitch and laced it to right field for a bases-clearing double. Junior Ryan Zakszeski collected the Blue Jays' fifth hit of the inning on a single to third base that chased Gettysburg starting pitcher, Ryan Taylor, and put runners on the corners. Lynch and Zakszeski then successfully completed a double steal and Lynch scored the Blue Jays fourth run of the inning.

Gettysburg (14-10, 3-6 CC) put up its own four-run seventh to pull within two, 7-5. O'Grady drew a walk to load the bases after Eagleson gave up a leadoff double and single. Senior reliever Blake Platt gave up an infield single before getting a fielder's choice and strikeout to get two outs in the inning. The Bullets picked up their third triple of the afternoon to score two more runs before Platt got Nate Simon swinging to end the inning.

The Blue Jays got two more runs in the eighth and ninth to cap off their 11-run day. In the eighth, Barrett led off with a double to deep center and junior Chris Vonderschmidt came out to pinch run. After a ground out from Musary moved him to third, junior Adam Weiner singled to left to score Vonderschmidt. Weiner came around to score on Borenstein's second RBI-single of the game.

Zakszeski led off the Blue Jay ninth drawing an eight-pitch walk and moved to second on a ground out from Carbone. Vonderschmidt doubled down the right field line for a ground rule double to score Zakszeski for the Blue Jays' 10th run of the game. Weiner and Neverman drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Kanen who worked a four-pitch walk to bring home Vonderschmidt and cap off the Blue Jay scoring.

Senior closer Aaron Schwartz threw a near-spotless eighth and ninth inning, giving up just a hit in the eighth and a walk in the ninth while collecting four strikeouts, including the game-ending punch out of Pat Cody.

Eagleson earned the win on the mound for the Blue Jays, going six strong innings, giving up four runs on four hits and four walks while striking out two. Kanen led the Blue Jays at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs and two runs scored. Every Blue Jay batter that came up to the plate reached base safely at least once.

The Blue Jays and Bullets complete the home-and-home series on Friday when the Blue Jays host the Bullets at the JHU Baseball Diamond with the first pitch scheduled for 3:30 pm.