BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins baseball team jumped on the board early with three runs in the first inning of the first game and never looked back, blitzing Franklin & Marshall, 9-4 in the first game and 20-1 in game two, en route to capturing the program's 13th Centennial Conference baseball title and first since 2011.
Serving as the away team in game one, the Jays got after it quickly as Conor Reynolds and Chris Casey drew consecutive walks to start the inning before Colin McCarthy hammered a two-run double to left center, giving the Jays a 2-0 lead. McCarthy would come around to score on a Mike Smith fielder's choice.
Franklin & Marshall would respond with one run in the bottom-half of the inning, as Matt Mezansky walked, took second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a ground out by Dan Marano.
Both teams went scoreless in the second and third, but Hopkins would tack on one in both the fourth and fifth innings, as Ryan Orgielewicz ripped a shot over the wall in left before singling home Thomas Mee for two of his three RBI in the game. He would add another RBI in a two-run Hopkins seventh as he doubled home Raul Shah.
For the game, Orgielewicz led the offensive charge as he finished 3-for-4 with a double and homer to go along with three RBI and two runs scored. Every batter in the Hopkins order reached base, and seven of the nine players had at least two hits, as the Jays pounded out 17 hits in the win.
That offensive performance was all starter Justin Drechsel needed, as he was superb in his third start of the season, going a career-high 8.1 innings and striking out three while allowing just five hits. The senior captain moved his record to 3-0 in the win.
Game two had an eerily similar start to game one, as Reynolds and Casey each reached on a single before McCarthy hammered another two-run double to right-center to put the Jays on the board early. McCarthy would score on a Smith single and the Jays led 3-0 after one.
After starter Jacob Enterlin pitched a scoreless top-half of the second, the Jays offense kept rolling, as Raul Shah walked and Mitch Weaver singled to start the inning. Reynolds would single up the middle, scoring Shah and pushing Weaver to second.
With one out and two men on, McCarthy drilled his third double of the day, this one to right, scoring Weaver and putting Reynolds on third. Hoelzer would single the pair home before scoring on a Smith single, giving the Jays an 8-0 lead after two.
Franklin & Marshall would get on the board in the third as Mezansky doubled and came around to score on a Raul Shah throwing error.
From there, it was all Blue Jays, as the host team put up a four spot in the third, propelled by a three RBI double off the bat of Dan Albert, giving Hopkins a 12-1 lead.
The Jays went down in order for the first time of the day in the fourth and did the same in the fifth, before tacking on three more in the sixth courtesy of sacrifice flies by Mee and Reynolds and an RBI single by Weaver.
In the seventh, pinch hitters Joe Conlon, Pete Siciliano and Zach Jaffe each singled to load the bases for a Zach Robbins, who nailed an RBI single to center, scoring Conlon.
After David Mampre struck out, Reynolds came up and crushed a grand slam over the wall in left, putting the icing on the cake in Hopkins' championship win.
The Jays pitching staff and defense did its job, too, holding the Diplomats to just one run on five hits, striking out six batters.
The 20 runs scored in game two is a Centennial Conference championship game record, and is the most runs the Jays have scored in a single game all season.
Reynolds was named tournament MVP for his performance over Jays' five-game championship run. The shortstop and Baltimore native finished 10-for-22 with two doubles, two homers, 16 RBI and nine runs in the five game span. He hit safely in four of the five games and reached base in all five.
With his performance, Reynolds now holds the Centennial Conference tournament batting records in runs, and RBI, and is tied for the record in homers and RBI in a single game.