BALTIMORE, Md. — The No. 1 Johns Hopkins University baseball team hit four home runs and first year right fielder Alex Shane (Los Angeles, Calif.) was 4-5 with a pair of doubles and an RBI in a 9-5 victory over No. 8/9 Wheaton College (Mass.) today in the second game of the NCAA Super Regional at Babb Field at Stromberg Stadium in Baltimore, Md.
The Blue Jays, who are ranked number one in both the most recent D3baseball.com national poll and the Collegiate Baseball/American Baseball Coaches Association survey improve to 43-5 on the season, while the Lyons, who are ranked eighth in the D3baseball.com national poll and ninth in the Collegiate Baseball/American Baseball Coaches Association survey, fall to 42-8. The win for Johns Hopkins forces a winner-take-all game in the best-of-three series between the schools.
The teams traded runs in four different innings, before the Blue Jays broke the contest open with a four-run seventh inning to take a 9-4 lead. Wheaton got a run back in the eighth to make it 9-5. Both teams registered 11 hits on the day.
Shane becomes the first Johns Hopkins first year to collect four hits in an NCAA Tournament game and also scored a pair of runs, while sophomore first baseman Dillon Souvignier (Boulder, Colo.) was 2-5 with a home run, two runs batted in and two runs scored. Junior center fielder Tripp Myers (Towson, Md.) and junior Caleb Cyr (Coral Springs, Fla.) each homered and knocked in two runs apiece. Senior catcher Sam Frank (Houston, Texas) also hit a long ball for the Blue Jays. Graduate student Ben Keever (Dunwoody, Ga.) picked up the win in relief to improve to 2-0 after surrendering one unearned run on one hit and three walks to go with two strikeouts.
Senior third baseman Nick Croteau (Cumberland, R.I.) paced the Lyons with three RBI after going 2-4 with a double. Senior catcher Robert Wirtanen (Brentwood, N.H.) hit a solo home run and senior second baseman Mike Maher (Jefferson, Mass.) was 2-5 with a double and a run scored. Junior center fielder AJ Guindon (Coventry, R.I.) was also 2-5 with two runs scored and a stolen base. Sophomore lefty reliever Josh Fischer (Hopkinton, Mass.) was charged with the loss to dip to 2-1 after allowing a run on one hit and two walks in addition to three strikeouts in two innings. Sophomore starting pitcher Ryan McCarroll (Clifton Park, N.Y.) was knocked out after four innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks to go with five strikeouts.
Johns Hopkins broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 9-4 advantage. Junior second baseman Jimmy Stevens (New Albany, Ohio) drew a one out walk and sophomore shortstop Dylan Whitney (Oak Park, Ill.) followed with a single to put a pair of runners on for Shane. The right fielder came through with a deep fly ball that hopped over the center field fence for a ground rule double to score Stevens and give the Blue Jays a two-run lead. Senior left fielder Matthew Cooper (Chalfont, Pa.) brought home Whitney with a sacrifice fly to left and Souvignier delivered the big blow of the inning with a two-run homer over the right field fence for his sixth round tripper to increase Johns Hopkins' margin to 9-4.
Wheaton looked to rally after loading the bases with two outs in the eighth, but managed to scratch out just one run to cut the deficit to 9-5. Junior right fielder Tommy Ambrosone (Hopkinton, Mass.) drew a walk, before sophomore first baseman Timmy Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) singled to left and junior pinch-hitter Will Haskell (Natick, Mass.) worked a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Guindon hit a hard ground ball to third, but the throw to first was off the bag, allowing Ambrosone to score the Lyons' fifth run.
It took three batters for Wheaton to get on the board first and take a 1-0 lead. Guindon greeted the Johns Hopkins starter by lifting the first pitch he saw into left field for a single. Maher lined a single off the glove of the JHU second baseman and into right field with Guindon taking third on the play to put runners on the corners with no outs. Croteau hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Guindon with the game's first run in the top of the first inning.
The Blue Jays answered in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 edge. Shane ripped the first pitch he saw down the right field line for a double. One out later, Souvignier beat out a bunt to the left of the pitcher's mound to put runners on the corners with one out. Sophomore third baseman Shawn Steuerer (Wellington, Fla.) drew a walk to load the bases. Myers followed suit with a base on balls of his own to force in Shane with the first Johns Hopkins run to tie the game at 1-1. Cyr took the next pitch off the helmet to force in another run and give JHU a one-run lead.
The Lyons pulled even with a run in the top of the third to make it 2-2. Guindon led off with a single to left, stole second and scored on a run-scoring single to left off the bat of Croteau. Wheaton looked to take the lead with Croteau on second with two outs and sophomore left fielder Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.) at the plate. Matos ripped a single to left field and Croteau came around third with a head of steam, but Shane fielded the ball in right field on one hop and threw a strike to the plate to get Croteau in plenty of time to end the threat.
The Blue Jays reclaimed the lead with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the inning when Cyr crushed a pitch over the left-center field fence to give Johns Hopkins a 3-2 edge.
The Lyons put together back-to-back doubles in the fifth to tie the game for the second time at 3-3. Maher worked a full-count with two outs before smacking a ground-rule double that hopped the fence in the right-center gap, before Croteau duplicated the effort with a double of his own to the same place to drive in Maher with Wheaton's third run.
The Blue Jays got the run back right away in the bottom of the inning when Myers drilled a 1-2 pitch to the center field fence where Guindon sprinted back to the fence, jumped up to make the catch, but his momentum carried his body over the fence with the ball in his glove to result in Myers' sixth home run of the year and Johns Hopkins' 105th of the season to set a new NCAA Division III mark for long balls in a season, previously held by College of Wooster in 1997.
Wheaton responded in kind with a home run of its own in the top of the sixth to knot the game at four runs apiece. Wirtanen blasted his fifth homer of the year over the left-center fence with one out to pull the Lyons even for the third time.
The Blue Jays continued the back and forth exchange, scoring a run in the bottom of the inning to jump on top again for good at 5-4. Frank hit his 12th home run of the season to the opposite field to reclaim the lead and extend his season-long hitting streak to 23 games.