Johns Hopkins won a pair of elimination games on Sunday against Saint Mary's (Minn.) and Northwestern-St. Paul to advance to the NCAA Regional Championship on Monday afternoon. The Blue Jays will face the winner of Misericordia and Northwestern-St. Paul on Monday at 2:30 p.m. Central time.
Game 1 Recap | Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications
• Score: Johns Hopkins-7, Saint Mary's (MN)-2
• Records: JHU (13-4) • SMU (30-16)
• Pitching Decision: W: Linton (1-0) • L: Mercado (3-3)
• The Short Story: Senior Brian Linton allowed just one run while striking out 10 in 7.1 innings of relief and Jack Pausic hit two home runs to lead Johns Hopkins to a 7-2 win over Saint Mary's (MN) in an elimination game at the St. Paul Regional Sunday afternoon.
How it Happened
• Saint Mary's jumped to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as the Cardinals used a walk, stolen base a two-out Will Matthews RBI-double to jump on top.
• The Cardinals had a chance to pad their lead in the bottom of the second as they used an inning-opening double and a pair of walks to load the bases, but senior Brian Linton came on in relief and got a three-pitch strikeout to kill the threat.
• Forced to play without regular second baseman Matt Ritchie due to an injury, head coach Bob Babb turned to junior Jack Pausic, who quickly rewarded the decision with a solo home run in the bottom of the third to pull the Blue Jays even and they would grab the lead for good four batters later when Jared deFaria chased home Mike Ainsworth.
• An inning later, it was Pausic coming through again to push the 2-1 lead to 5-1. Mark Lopez and David Harding opened the inning with back-to-back singles before Pausic took a two-strike pitch over the wall in left to give the Blue Jays what proved to be an insurmountable 5-1 lead.
• Saint Mary's threatened throughout the game as the Cardinals five runners between the fifth and seventh innings and three more in the eighth and ninth combined, but Linton was up to the challenge each time.
• Linton worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts and a two-on, nobody-out situation in the sixth with back-to-back strikeouts and a caught stealing.
• The Blue Jays added two insurance runs in the eighth to push the lead to 7-1 before the Cardinals put together one final push in the ninth.
• Saint Mary's used three singles and a Blue Jay error to plate a run and had the bases loaded with designated hitter Liam Belleveau stepping in. As he had all day, Linton worked out of trouble as he induced a 4-6-3 game-ending double play.
Inside the Box Score
• Linton went three innings longer than he ever had as he worked the 7.1 innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts in relief of Jack McRae, who himself picked up four strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.
• Pausic, who had never played a game at second base, led an 11-hit attack as he was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. His two home runs tied the Johns Hopkins single-game NCAA Tournament record (Jesse Sikorski/2009, Ryan Orgielewicz/2017).
• deFaria, Harding and Austin Sacks all collected two hits for the Blue Jays, who collected more than 10 hits for the third straight game this weekend.
• Saint Mary's collected 10 hits and had 18 base runners, but Linton and McRae stranded 13 of them to help the Blue Jays move on.
NCAA Regional Notes
• Johns Hopkins is now 16-6 in its last 22 elimination games in NCAA Regional play.
• The lower seeded team is 5-2 this far in the Saint Paul Regional and the visiting team has won all seven games.
Game 2 Recap | Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications
• Score: Johns Hopkins-11, University of Northwestern-7
• Records: JHU (14-4) • NW (34-11)
• Pitching Decision: W: McKoon (1-0) • L: Wall (5-4)
• The Short Story: Sixth-seeded Johns Hopkins jumped out to a 9-3 lead and held off a mid-inning rally by the University of Northwestern-St. Paul to pick up an 11-7 win in the NCAA St. Paul Regional Sunday evening. The win advances the Blue Jays to the regional title game.
How it Happened
• The Blue Jays jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first as Jared deFaria and James Ingram had run-scoring singles and Austin Sacks ripped an RBI-double to left center off Eagle starter Phil Wall.
• The early 3-0 lead held until the bottom of the second, when Aaron Stevenson raced home on a sacrifice fly after opening the inning with a triple and Bryce Crabb blasted a solo home run to left to make it 3-2.
• Johns Hopkins answered quickly in the top of the third with four more hits off Wall, including another run-scoring single from Sacks and a two-run home run from Ingram deep to left to extend the leads
• The Eagles scratched out a run in the bottom of the third without the benefit of a hit as they used four walks to plate a run and pull within 6-3. Freshman Wyatt Copeland inherited a bases-loaded, one-out situation in relief and held Northwestern to just the one run to maintain the three-run lead.
• Hopkins produced its third, three-run inning of the game in the top of the fourth with a four-hit attack that was highlighted by a two-run double from deFaria and the third run-scoring single of the night for Sacks.
• The back-and-forth affair carried into the bottom of the fourth as the Eagles got a pair back with both runs coming with two outs. A solo home run from Guerin Szafraniec plated the first and Northwestern later added a run on a throwing error to make it 9-5 after four.
• The four-run lead was cut in half in the bottom of the fifth as the Eagles got a run-scoring single and forced in another run with a bases-loaded walk to pull within 9-7. As it turned out, those would be the last runs of the night for Northwestern.
• Hopkins slowed the Eagle rally with a two-out run of their own in the top of the seventh. After Northwestern reliever Max Barthel quickly retired the first two Blue Jays, senior Mark Lopez hit a towering home run to left to push the JHU lead to three at 10-7.
• The Blue Jays pushed across another single run in the top of the eighth as Jack Pausic opened the inning with a double off the wall in center and Dai Dai Otaka laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move him to third before Mike Ainsworth lifted a fly ball to right that scored Pausic for Hopkins' 11th and final run.
• Carson McKoon, who had entered the game with two outs in the bottom of the fifth for the Blue Jays, set the Eagles down in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to lock down the victory.
Inside the Box Score
• McKoon went the final 4.1 innings and allowed just one hit and struck out a pair to pick up his first win of the season.
• The Blue Jays pounded out 18 hits, including four doubles and two home runs, in the victory. The 18 hits matched Hopkins' season high.
• Sacks, Ingram, Lopez and Ainsworth all collected three hits and Sacks, Ingram and deFaria all had three runs batted in for the Blue Jays.
• Four different players collected a pair of hits for the Eagles, who scored all of their runs between the second and fifth innings.
NCAA Regional Notes
• Johns Hopkins advances to the regional title game for the seventh time in school history and the sixth time since 2004.
• The Blue Jays claimed regional titles in 1989, 2008, 2010 and 2019 and finished as runners-up in 2004 and 2007.
• Dating back to 2008, Johns Hopkins improved to 17-6 in its last 23 regional elimination games.
• With 18 hits tonight, the Blue Jays are hitting .364 (56-of-154) in the regional tournament.
• The lower seeded teams are 6-3 in the St. Paul Regional and the visiting team has won all nine games.
Up Next
• Johns Hopkins will play the winner of the first game on Monday (Misericordia-University of Northwestern) in the regional title game at 2:30 pm (CT).