Image Courtesy of Mike Atherton, D3Photography.com
BALTIMORE, Md.- The Juniata baseball team dropped a pair of games by margins of 7-3 and 9-3 to #16 John Hopkins in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Babb Field at Stromberg Stadium.
Evan Mock contributed four of the Eagles' six runs on the day with an RBI double in game one and a three-run opposite field home run in game two; the only Juniata runs in the second leg of the day.
Hopkins found the lead in the second inning of game one with three runs, followed by a fourth-inning solo homer and a sixth-inning two-run shot with one more run in the seventh. Juniata didn't find their first hit until the fifth inning before tacking three runs on the board across the seventh and eighth innings in a 7-3 defeat.
Chase Alessandroni made it through six innings but gave up five earned runs in the process, with six strikeouts on the day. Mock had two of Juniata's five hits in the contest with a pair of doubles.
The Blue Jays opened their three-run second with a double and a walk before getting runners to the corners with an infield fielder's choice play. Alessandroni struck out the next batter but then dropped a pitch in the dirt to the next batter to put runners at second and third. This was followed by a bases-clearing single, with the hitter advancing to second on a fielder's choice attempt at the plate that was offline. That runner then stole third and made it all the way home on a ball that went past the third baseman.
The next Blue Jays run came in the fourth via a home run that appeared a routine fly ball at first but kept carrying. Johns Hopkins got one more runner on in scoring position on a double that dropped between the left fielder and shortstop, but Alessandroni converted back-to-back backward K's to escape the inning.
Mock found the first Eagles hit of the day in the fifth with a one-out double to right center, but that's as far as he got. A leadoff double for the Blue Jays in the sixth was followed by a one-out home run down the left-field line for a 6-0 advantage.
Juniata broke the shutout in the seventh, as a Mock double down into the corner in left field scored Corey Daniels from first base following his one-out single. The bottom of the seventh saw Dominic Hoyle escape a jam created by four straight one-out singles with a double play via a ground ball to the shortstop Chatram Persuad with only one run given up.
Michael Warren opened the eighth inning with a single, and like an inning ago, a double down the left field line, this time via pinch-hitting Tyler Mack, saw him make it all the way around. A throwing error from the Blue Jays shortstop scored pinch-runner Sebastian Tringali, and Juniata left the top of the eighth four runs down.
Following a quick bottom of the eighth from Hoyle via a strikeout and one-out double play, Juniata was unable to get a runner on in the ninth.
Game two saw Juniata level at three apiece through three innings thanks to Mock's three-run shot to right field, but Hopkins posted six runs in the middle third while keeping Juniata to just one hit in the final six innings.
Starter Jack Dovidio made it through only four innings but gave up just two earned runs despite eight hits with two strikeouts. Connor Krahulec and Mack each delivered an inning of no-run relief in the seventh and eighth innings, while the middle relievers gave up four earned runs.
Juniata went down in order to open the first; then the Blue Jays opened their half of the inning with back-to-back singles. An infield throwing error scored one run, with one runner getting tagged out trying to advance to third on the error. This was followed by a walk, strikeout, and groundout to first to escape the inning.
Juniata got runners to first and second with one out in the top of the second, then Michael Warren fired a single to right field; unfortunately, the runner from second was easily out on an accurate throw home from the right fielder. A flyout to right got Hopkins out of the inning. Hopkins found only a leadoff hit in the bottom half of the second before going down in order.
Juniata found all three runs via Mock's opposite field home run with two outs, cashing in on an Aaron Bollinger walk and Dakotah Snyder single. Hopkins did level the game at three each following a leadoff single with a ball that just cleared the shallow 295-foot right-field fence down the line.
Juniata posted just a hit in the fourth before Hopkins took the lead on a two-out run that saw an infield error, a single, a wild pitch to score a run, a single, and a walk before Dovidio found a flyout.
From there, Hopkins posted a three-run home run in the fifth and scored two more in the sixth to solidify their 9-3 victory.
Juniata moves to 2-5 in the early season with the two losses on the day.
The Eagles play at Langdon-Goodale Field for the first time in 2023 with a Wednesday doubleheader against the Wilson Phoenix. First pitch of game one is slated for 1:00 pm.
