Posted: May 21, 2023
Release courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications
- Score: #1 Johns Hopkins- 8, St. John Fisher- 2
- Records: JHU (42-4), SJF (32-14)
- Pitching Decision: W: Kieren Collins (6-0), L: Connor McHugh (8-3)
- The Short Story: The top-ranked Johns Hopkins baseball team finished off a perfect 3-0 weekend in the NCAA Regional with an all-around team effort to knock off St. John Fisher 8-2 and bring home their sixth ever NCAA Regional Championship.
How It Happened
- After a quiet first couple innings for both teams offensively, the Blue Jays broke the deadlock in the bottom of the third inning. Jimmy Stevens started the inning off with a base hit to right field followed up with a walk drawn by Dylan Whitney. With one out in the inning, Matthew Cooper smoked a ball to right field that soared over the fence to give JHU a 3-0 lead. For Cooper, it was his 23rd homer of the year, which ties him for the most in Division III.
- Brian Norsen, who swung a hot bat all weekend for the Cardinals, answered with a long ball of his own in the top of the fourth to push a run across for them. The next three hitters for SJF all reached base to load the bases with one out. Kieren Collins kept his composure on the mound and got the next two Cardinals to pop out to Dillon Souvignier at first base to strand the bases loaded.
- Whitney came through with a clutch at bat for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the inning, stepping up to the plate with the bases full. Whitney fought off an inside pitch and punched it into left field to bring in Tripp Myers from third which pushed JHU's lead back up to three.
- The Blue Jays opened up a comfortable six run lead in the bottom of sixth inning by hanging four runs on the Cardinals. Whitney, Alex Shane and Cooper racked up three singles in a row to load up the base paths and a wild pitch allowed Whitney to break for the plate to score a run. Souvignier followed up with an RBI infield single to bring Shane in to score and Tripp Myers also chipped in with a sac fly to center field to end the RBI contributions for Johns Hopkins in the inning.
- The Blue Jays turned to a couple of their crafty veterans to close out the later innings in Ben Keever and Jaspar Carmichael. The two fifth-year seniors combined to shut the Cardinals out in the final three frames of the game and close down an 8-2 victory for Johns Hopkins.
Inside the Box Score
- Sam Frank finished the day with a base-hit, which extends his impressive hit-streak to 21 games. That is the longest streak on the team this season and he has reached base safely at least once in all 36 games he has played this year.
- Kieren Collins earned the second win of his career in the NCAA Regional with his 5.1 innings pitched today. Since April 2nd, Collins has only allowed three earned runs in 32.1 innings pitched with 19 strikeouts.
- St. John Fisher struggled with runners on base throughout the game, leaving on 11 runners. Their season comes to an end after reaching the regional for a third straight year.
Of Note
- Since the regional/super regional format was implemented in Division III, Johns Hopkins is now 6-0 at Babb Field for regional contests. In total, the Blue Jays are 10-1 in the regional and have advanced to the super regional on all three occasions.
- Matthew Cooper has chased down John Christ in the career home run race at Johns Hopkins with today being his 35th career home run. The slugger will try to surpass him in the super regional next weekend.
Up Next
- The Blue Jays will wait and see where and who they will play in the super regional next Friday and Saturday. The teams still alive in the region that JHU is paired up with at the time of this article are Mitchell, Wheaton (MA) and Husson.