Game 1 - Johns Hopkins 9, Wheaton 5
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 improve to 43-5 on the season, while the Lyons 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.
Game 2 - Johns Hopkins 12, Wheaton 2
BALTIMORE, Md. — The No. 1 John Hopkins University baseball team rapped out 16 hits 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 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, while 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.
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.
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.
In addition to Wheaton matching the all-time wins record from the 2006 season's 42-10 showing, the Lyons also tied season mark for runs scored with 405 to match the 2010 edition and set new standards for home runs (43), walks (255), fewest errors (46), highest fielding percentage (.977), innings pitched (461) and pitching strikeouts (364). Sophomore starting pitcher Ryan McCarroll (Clifton Park, N.Y.) also tied the single-season mark for victories (10) and set a new record for single-season strikeouts with 82.
Sophomore starting pitcher Matt Savedoff (New City, N.Y.) 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.
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.