BALTIMORE, Md. — The No. 1 Johns Hopkins University baseball team rapped out 16 hits and sophomore starting pitcher Matt Savedoff (New City, N.Y.) allowed just one earned run over eight innings in a 12-2 victory over No. 8/9 Wheaton College (Mass.) this afternoon in the NCAA Division III Super Regional Championship to earn a trip to the College World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
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 44-5 on the season and advance to the College World Series for the sixth time in school history, 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 42-9 to conclude their season tied for the school record for victories.
Johns Hopkins came into the day needing to defeat Wheaton twice to earn a spot in Iowa to vie for the NCAA Championship from June 2-8. The Lyons lost two in a row for the first time all season.
JHU scored two runs each in the second and third innings to take a 4-0 lead, before Wheaton got on the board with a run in the third to make it 4-1. The teams traded single runs to keep it a three-run difference at 5-2, before the Blue Jays erupted for seven runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
Savedoff yielded two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks to go with six strikeouts in a 118-pitch effort over eight innings to improve to 8-0. Sophomore third baseman Shawn Steuerer (Wellington, Fla.) was 3-5 with a pair of doubles and a home run to drive in four runs, while senior left fielder Matthew Cooper (Chalfont, Pa.) was also 3-5, including a double and a long ball to knock in four runs. Junior Caleb Cyr (Coral Springs, Fla.) recorded two RBI on a 3-5 effort that included a homer and a double.
Senior second baseman Mike Maher (Jefferson, Mass.) was 1-3 with a walk, a double and an RBI for the Lyons, while senior third baseman Nick Croteau (Cumberland, R.I.) finished his career with a 1-4 turn at the plate and a run batted in. Junior center fielder AJ Guindon (Coventry, R.I.) was 2-4 with a run scored to end the season with 86 hits and tie Sean Ryan's 2012 total for the most single-season hits in school history. He also ends the year with a school-record 70 runs scored. Senior shortstop Cavan Brady (Sheffield, Mass.) singled in his final collegiate at-bat and finished with 83 hits for fourth on the school's all-time list, while driving in 77 runs to set the school standard and currently lead the nation. Junior right-handed starter Liam Goldthwaite (Braintree, Mass.) suffered the loss to end the year with a 6-2 mark after giving up four runs on four hits and three walks in two and a third innings pitched.
Johns Hopkins scored a pair of runs to crack the scoring column first and take a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Junior center fielder Tripp Myers (Towson, Md.) drew a full-count two-out walk to keep the inning alive for the Blue Jays, before Cyr hit his 16th home run of the season well over the left-center field fence for a two-run margin.
Johns Hopkins doubled its lead with two more runs in the third inning for a 4-0 margin. Cooper drew a walk, before sophomore first baseman Dillon Souvignier (Boulder, Colo.) doubled to left center to put both runners in scoring position with one out. Steuerer matched his classmate, belting a two-run double to the left-center gap to give the Blue Jays a four-run cushion.
Wheaton got a run back in the bottom of the frame to cut the deficit to 4-1. Guindon ripped a two-out single to right field to tie the Lyons' single-season record for hits and give Wheaton a baserunner to keep the inning alive. Maher worked a walk and Croteau delivered an RBI single to right field for the Lyons' first run.
Johns Hopkins restored its lead to four runs with a run in the fourth. Sophomore shortstop Dylan Whitney (Oak Park, Ill.) stroked a double to the left-center gap, moved to third on a ground out to the right side and scored on a line-drive single to left off the bat of Cooper to increase the Blue Jays' lead to 5-1.
Wheaton rallied with two outs again in the fifth to make it 5-2. Junior Will Haskell (Natick, Mass.) reached on an infield error and scored all the way from first when Maher sent a pitch into no-man's land in the right center gap for an RBI double on a close play at the plate.
Johns Hopkins effectively put the game out of reach with seven runs on six hits in the top of the seventh to take a 12-2 advantage. Cooper and Steuerer showed off the tremendous power that the Blue Jays have become known for with Cooper leading off the frame with a solo shot for his NCAA-leading 24th homer and Steuerer following two batters later with a mammoth shot over the scoreboard for his 16th long ball of the year and an 8-2 lead for JHU. Junior second baseman Jimmy Stevens (New Albany, Ohio) later knocked in a run with a single to left, before Johns Hopkins loaded the bases with one out. First year right fielder Alex Shane (Los Angeles, Calif.) drew an RBI walk and Cooper drilled a two-run double down the line to finish a triple shy of the cycle and cap the scoring, giving the Blue Jays a 12-2 cushion.