Johns Hopkins Press Conference
The Basics
• Score: #17 Birmingham-Southern-15, #21 Johns Hopkins-4
• Records: JHU (37-13), Birmingham Southern (42-13)
• Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
• Pitching Decision: W – Harvin (5-0) • L – Dillard (2-2)
• The Short Story: Birmingham-Southern jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one inning and never looked back as the 17th-ranked Panthers eliminated 21st-ranked Johns Hopkins from the Division III World Series with a 15-4 win at Veterans Memorial Stadium late Sunday night.
How it Happened
• Birmingham-Southern wasted no time jumping on the Blue Jays as the Panthers scored the five runs in the bottom of the first to grab control early. Four RBI-singles and a bases-loaded walk fueled the five-run spree for the Panthers, who worked their way into the Blue Jay bullpen in the inning as they sent 10 batters to the plate.
• Johns Hopkins got on the board in the top of the third as Matt Ritchie opened the inning with a single, stole second and came around to score on a Tim Kutcher double to the wall in left field.
• The Panthers scratched out five runs in the bottom of the fourth to push the lead to 10-1. Run-scoring singles from Tyler Hamel and A.J. Hunt plated the first two runs off Blue Jay reliever Jaspar Carmichael to make it 7-1. Hunt's single left the bases loaded and Luke DePiero followed with a ground out that scored Hamel, while Will Toner later came home on a wild pitch and Hunt scored on a sacrifice fly.
• The Blue Jays trimmed the deficit to 10-2 in the top of the fifth on the third home run of the season for Pete Manny, but the Panthers matched that with a single run of their own in the bottom of the inning.
• A two-run sixth for the Blue Jays made it 11-4 with back-to-back RBI singles from Nate Davis and Chris DeGiacomo scoring Mike Ebele and Chris Festa, respectively. Hopkins had a chance to do more damage as it still had two men on with nobody out after DeGiacomo's single, but Panther starter Tristan Harvin worked out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts wrapped around a nice diving catch in center field by DePiero.
• Birmingham-Southern answered with three in the bottom of the sixth and one in the seventh to account for the 15-4 final score.
Team Leaders
Johns Hopkins:
Hits: Davis-3
RBI: Four with-1
Strikeouts: Carmichael, Glass-1
Birmingham-Southern:
Hits: Wise-3
RBI: Steadman-3
Strikeouts: Harvin-6
Notes of Interest
• The Blue Jays end the season at 37-13. The 37 wins are tied for the sixth-highest total in school history.
• Manny's home run pushed JHU's school-record and nation-leading total to 83rd of the season.
• Officially, the Blue Jays finish with a third-place finish at this year's Division III World Series. That matches the second-best finish in school history (1989).
• Johns Hopkins is now 9-8 in four all-time trips to the Division III World Series.
• The seniors on the 2019 team finish their career with a record of 132-50.
• Eberle tied the Johns Hopkins single-season record for games played as he appeared in all 50 games this season to tie Brian Youchak's record (2010).
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