BALTIMORE, MD. – Johns Hopkins grabbed a four-run lead after five innings and held off a Cortland rally in the ninth as the Blue Jays defeated the nationally 10th-ranked Red Dragons, 5-3, to close the Baltimore Invitational.

Cortland finished 1-2 at the tournament and is now 3-4-1 on the season. JHU improved to 5-1 with the win.
 
Sean McCracken earned the win on the mound for the hosts after allowing one run on four hits over seven innings. He struck out seven and walked one. Josh Hejka gave up three hits and two runs in two innings of relief.
 
Zack Durant (Vernon/V-V-S) started for Cortland and gave up five runs, four earned, on four hits in four innings. He struck out two and walked two. Steven Salisbury (Cranston, RI/Moses Brown) and Andrew Barnes (Rochester, NH/Spaulding) each tossed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.  Salisbury walked two, fanned one and didn't allow any hits. Barnes gave up two hits and no walks with one strikeout.
 
Hopkins took a 2-0 lead in the third on a Chris DeGiacomo two-run homer. Cortland scored in the top of the fifth on a leadoff homer by Dan Schweitzer (Poughquag/Arlington), who finished the game 3-for-3. The hosts responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning on an error and a DeGiacomo two-run double. DeGiacomo finished 2-for-4 with four RBI as Hopkins' lone multi-hit player.
 
Cortland left the bases loaded in the third and had runners on second and third with one out in the fourth after an error and a Salisbury double but couldn't score. The Red Dragons were not able to mount another serious scoring threat until its final rally. The ninth started with a hit batter and a force out, followed by a pinch-hit two-run homer by Paul Franzese (Somers) to draw Cortland within 5-3. The Red Dragons stayed alive with a two-out, pinch-hit double by Brian Corporan (Bronx/H.S. for Environmental Studies), but a groundout ended the game.
 
Cortland returns to action next weekend with a game at Marywood in Scranton, Pa. on Friday, a doubleheader Saturday at Rutgers-Newark, and a game at Stevens Institute in New Jersey Sunday.