Hopkins will now face the loser of the winner's bracket contest between fourth-seeded Misericordia and eighth-seeded Catholic on Friday at 10 am. Misericordia and Catholic are slated for a 6:45 pm start on Thursday.
JHU continued its recent stellar play in postseason elimination games with the victory over the Yellow Jackets. With the win the Blue Jays are now 11-2 in regional elimination games since the 2007 season.
Junior Sam Eagleson nearly tossed his fifth complete game of the season as he went 8 2/3 innings to earn the win for JHU. Eagleson allowed five Randolph-Macon runners to cross the plate, three of which were earned, and recorded eight strikeouts while walking two on the day.
Randolph-Macon reached home first in the top of the second frame, but Hopkins managed to respond with a three-run bottom half of the second to take a two-run advantage. Senior Jesse Sikorski led off the inning with a single through the right side of the infield, while sophomore Jeff Lynch poked a single to shallow center field that allowed Sikorski to advance to third on a well-executed hit-and-run.
After Lynch swiped second for just his second steal of the season, sophomore Ryan Zakszeski recorded a two-RBI double to right center – marking the 15th straight game in which he's hit safely – to give JHU its first lead, 2-1. Senior Anthony Venditti then gave Hopkins a two-run cushion with a sacrifice fly to center field to make the count 3-1 after two frames.
The Yellow Jackets added runs in the third and the fifth to pull even with JHU at 3-3, but the Blue Jays responded with its second three-run inning of the day in the sixth to take the lead for good.
Hopkins put its leadoff batter on the base paths for the third straight frame in the sixth as Sikorski ripped a single that caromed off the glove of Randolph-Macon first baseman Jordan Walton. Lynch once against followed a Sikorski hit with one of his own as he sliced a fading double down the line in right that rolled all the way to the corner and Hopkins was in business with runners on second and third and none away.
Sophomore Zach Small then sent a one-out fly ball to center field that was just deep enough to allow Sikorski to race home from third on a high throw and the Blue Jays once again led, 4-3. Neverman followed with a scorched RBI double liner down the left field line and scored shortly thereafter on a throwing error by Yellow Jacket second baseman Greg Mitro for a 6-3 JHU edge.
Sikorski added an RBI double to deep left center in the bottom half of the seventh and Bejsiuk notched his first RBI of the regional with a sacrifice fly to left in the eighth and the Blue Jays held a comfortable 8-4 lead heading into the final inning.
Randolph-Macon was able to tally another score in the top of the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate, but junior Aaron Schwartz closed out the win by recording the final out for his second save of the year.
Zakszeski notched a team-high two RBIs and scored once for the Blue Jays, while Sikorski and Lynch both went 3-for-4 and crossed home plate twice. Neverman and Venditti each went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the win.
Randolph-Macon starter Jamie Hendrick lasted six inning on the mound, surrendering six runs on 10 hits to close out the year at 6-3. Walton led the way for the Yellow Jackets with a 3-for-5 performance and an RBI, while left fielder Brian Jordan totaled two RBIs on one hit in the loss.
Hopkins returns to action on Friday at 10 am against the loser of Thursday evening's contest between fourth-seeded Misericordia and eighth-seeded Catholic. The winner of Friday morning's contest will then play at 7:45 pm Friday night.