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Game One Score: Dickinson-11, #1 Johns Hopkins-6
Game Two Score: #1 Johns Hopkins- 13, Dickinson- 8
Records: DC (25-17-1), JHU (38-4)
Game One Pitching Decision: W: Joey Sangiuolo (3-0), L: Charlie Monterrosa (5-1)
Game Two Pitching Decision: W: Matt Savedoff (7-0), L: Charlie Bien (1-3)
Records: JHU (39-4), DC (25-18-1)
The Short Story: Third-seeded Dickinson forced a deciding game in the Centennial Conference Baseball Tournament with an 11-6 win in game one on Sunday, but top-ranked Johns Hopkins rebounded with a 13-8 win in game two to win its league-record 17th conference title, including its 13th tournament crown. With the title, Johns Hopkins earns the Centennial's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
How it Happened – Game One
• The Blue Jays struck first with three runs in the bottom of the second. After Sam Frank and Shawn Steuerer drew one-out walks, junior Caleb Cyr drove a 1-2 pitch over the left centerfield wall to give Hopkins an early 3-0 lead.
• As quickly as the Blue Jays had built the three-run lead, it was gone as the Red Devils answered with three runs of their own in the top of the third. Kenny Tagliareni laced a one-out single to center to plate the first run and Matt Torres poked a two-run single down the line in right to pull the Devils even.
• Dickinson grabbed the lead for good in the fourth on a two-run Dylan Posencheg home run that made it 5-3. The Blue Jays answered in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run from senior Matthew Cooper to pull within one, but that would be as close as they would get.
• The Red Devils answered with a two-run inning on a pair of home runs in the top of the sixth. Posencheg led off with a shot to deep left center and Nathan Bowman followed with a drive that snuck just inside the pole down the line in left to give Dickinson a 7-4 lead.
• The Blue Jays had a chance to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, but Dickinson reliever Joey Sangiuolo was able to work out of a pair of bases-loaded jams to maintain the three-run lead.
• The failure to push anything across in the fifth and sixth came back to haunt the Blue Jays quickly in the seventh as the Devils loaded the bases on an error, walk and hit batter and Bowman followed with a one-out grand slam to left to push the lead to 11-4.
• Hopkins scratched out a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth on a run-scoring single from Cyr and a Dickinson error to account for the 11-6 final score.
Inside the Box Score – Game One
• Six of Dickinson's 12 hits in the game went for extra bases with four home runs and two doubles. The two home runs for Posencheg were the first two of his career.
• Sangiuolo and Metzger combined to throw 5.0 innings of relief and allowed just the two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Sangiuolo scattered four hits and struck out two in three innings of work to pick up the victory.
• Posencheg and Bowman, the Devils' eight and nine hitters, combined to go 5-for-9 with eight RBIs and five runs scored.
• Cyr was 2-for-4 and knocked in four of Hopkins' five runs in the game.
How it Happened – Game Two
• As they had in game one, the Blue Jays jumped out to an early lead as they scored four runs on six hits in the top of the first. A two-run Sam Frank single, a bases-loaded balk and an infield single from Jimmy Stevens accounted for the four-run first for the Jays.
• The Red Devils answered with a four-spot of their own in the bottom of the second. A two-run double for Andrew Mazzone and run-scoring doubles from Tagliareni and Kaden Sigmon plated the four runs for Dickinson.
• Johns Hopkins added two runs in the third with a Steuerer home run highlighting the inning for the Blue Jays.
• The Red Devils had a golden chance in the bottom of the sixth cut into the deficit, but freshman Cole Jefferson came on in relief for the Blue Jays with two on and two out and induced a Mazzone line drive to second baseman Jimmy Stevens for the final out.
• After holding off the Red Devils in the bottom of the sixth, the Blue Jays tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to 8-4. Dillon Souvignier doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and faced home on an error and Stevens dropped a run-scoring single into left to chase home Steuerer.
• Dickinson scratched out a run in the bottom of the seventh to pull within one at 8-5, but the Blue Jays erupted for five runs on five hits, including a grand slam from Cyr, to push the lead to 13-5.
• Dickinson plated a single run in the eighth and added two in the bottom of the ninth before the Blue Jays closed things out with the five-run victory.
Inside the Box Score - Game Two
• Caleb Cyr's home run in the top of the eighth was his 12th on the season. In total, Cyr hit five home runs in four games against the Red Devils this season. Cyr finished the day with nine RBI's in total between the two games.
• Shawn Steuerer and Jimmy Stevens both finished with four-hit games to highlight the Blue Jays offense who knocked out 18 hits in the game. It was Steuerer's second four-hit game of the season.
• Five different Blue Jays had multi-hit performances in the game to help the team win their record 17th conference title.
Of Note
Caleb Cyr was named the most valuable player of the conference tournament for his contributions on the weekend. Cyr hit three home runs and drove in 12 runs across the four games and had several timely hits for the Blue Jays in their run to the championship.
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will now wait until next Sunday when the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced to see where they will be playing in the Regional. The NCAA Regionals are scheduled to take place May 19th-21st.