BALTIMORE - Swarthmore College Baseball mounted a comeback that fell short in a 7-6 loss at No. 21-ranked Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday.

The Garnet (19-12, 7-8) are now 2-5 in games decided by one run this season.

Seventh-year Swarthmore head coach Matt Midkiff opted to use an "opener" to start on the pitcher's mound after it worked brilliantly in a doubleheader sweep of Gettysburg on Saturday. But this time the Blue Jays (26-9, 12-3) scored three runs in the first and eventually took a 7-1 lead by the fifth inning.

Swarthmore's lone run at that point came off of an RBI single by junior Jared Gillen. Gillen went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored. He's hitting .409 since being moved to the fifth spot in the lineup over the past five games.

Freshman Zach Camp entered as Swarthmore's third pitcher in the sixth inning. He threw two scoreless frames and allowed just one hit.

The bats came alive for Swarthmore in the sixth as sophomore Michael Sepe hit his second home run of the season to score two.

Junior Cole Beeker hit his fifth homer of the year in the seventh, tying seniors Jackson Roberts and Charles Levitt for the team lead. Sepe brought the Garnet within one on a double later in the inning.

Senior Ricky Conti threw a scoreless eighth for Swarthmore, but the Garnet left two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth innings to ultimately lose the game.

Swarthmore had 15 hits in the contest, and Hopkins had 10. Sepe and Gillen had three apiece. Levitt, junior Holden Bridge and freshman Luke Mutz each had a pair. Freshman Austin Burgess batted once as a pinch hitter in the eighth and doubled.

The Garnet will play Johns Hopkins at Clothier Field on Friday at 3:30 p.m.