NCAA Bracket

Post Game Interview

The Basics
• Score: #21 Johns Hopkins – 10, #7 TCNJ - 3
• Records: JHU (33-11) • TCNJ (33-11)
• Location: Baltimore, MD • Babb Field
• Pitching Decision: W – Sean McCracken (7-2) • L – Matt Volpe (5-1)
• The Short Story: The Johns Hopkins baseball team is heading to the NCAA Division III Super Regionals as the Blue Jays won the Baltimore region with a convincing 10-3 victory over TCNJ in the championship game on a warm Sunday afternoon.

How it Happened
• Hopkins took a quick 2-0 lead in the second as Chris DeGiacomo led off the inning with a single and eventually came around to score on a double by Matthew Ritchie. Tim Kutcher then singled home Ritchie for the second JHU run of the inning.
• After a two-out double by TCNJ in the top of the first, McCracken got into a groove and retired the Lions in order in innings two-four.
• Back-to-back home runs by Mark Lopez and Pete Manny in the fourth gave Hopkins a 4-0 lead and JHU tacked on two more in the fifth on a DeGiacomo homer to right to make it a 6-0 Blue Jay advantage.
• Matt Giacose led off the sixth with a double and scored easily on a triple to center by Thomas Persichetti to cut the Johns Hopkins lead to 6-1. David Cardona then grounded out to score another run and make it a 6-2 ballgame. The Blue Jays responded with a run in the bottom of the inning on a Ritchie homer to left to make it a  five-run game.
• Tommy McCarthy led off the top of the seventh with a shot to left to pull TCNJ to within four at 7-3. With a runner on first and a 3-2 count on the batter, Preston Betz entered the game and threw one pitch to get Matt Giacose swinging to end the inning.
• Mike Eberle led off the seventh with his fourth home run of the season to put JHU up 8-3 and the Blue Jays added two more runs in the eighth a two-RBI single by Manny to make it 10-3.
• The Lions got a two-out single in the top of the ninth but Betz got Joe Oczkowski to ground out to Eberle at short and end the game and send the Blue Jays into the Super Regionals.

Team Leaders
Johns Hopkins:
Hits: Four tied - 2
RBI: Manny - 3
Strikeouts: McCracken - 6

TCNJ:
Hits: Persichetti, McCarthy - 2
RBI: Three tied - 1
Strikeouts: Volpe - 3 

What it Means
• Johns Hopkins outscored its opponents 28-7 in the three games they played this weekend.
• With the five home runs today, JHU is now just one shy of tying the single-season program record of 80 which was set in 2010.
• The Blue Jays have scored at least ten runs in 20 games this season.

Inside the Box Score
• Kutcher finished the day 2-5 with an RBI and now has 98 hits in his career.
• Ritchie went 2-3 with a walk, two RBIs and three runs scored in the game.
• DeGiacomo now has 12 home runs this season and his 47 RBIs leads the team as the Norwell, MA native went 2-3 with two RBIs in the game.
• Manny led the Blue Jays with his three RBIs as he also finished the day with two hits.
• On the mound for JHU, McCracken went 6.1 innings scattering five hits while allowing the three runs. He walked one and struck out six.
• Betz finished the game for the Blue Jays as he went the final 2.1 innings allowing just two hits while recording two strikeouts.