Blue Jay bats come alive against York

The Hopkins' baseball
team went 1-1 at home versus
Messiah and Rutgers-
Newark this weekend
before kicking off three
weeks on the road. The
team will play five away
games on the East Coast
before heading to Phoenix,
AZ for their spring trip. The
Blue Jays went 1-1 away as
well, falling to 13th-ranked
Rowan in Glassboro, NJ on
Tuesday before defeating
York College in Pennsylvania
on Wednesday.
Hopkins baseball was
ranked #22
in the country
in the
p r e s e a s o n
and opened
their season
in a chall
e n g i n g
fashion.
" [ W e
are] playing
against
tough competition
in
our first 10
games of
the year,"
said junior first baseman
Jeff Lynch. "All [the teams]
except Rutgers-Newark
played in the NCAA tournament
in the last three
seasons. It will prepare us
well for conference play
and hopefully the NCAA
tournament."
The Blue Jays were looking
for a win in their second
game against the Falcons
of Messiah following
an exciting game versus
10th-ranked Alvernia College
that was cut short at
a 7-7 tie due to darkness to
begin the year.
Hopkins came out
strong, jumping out to a 2-0
lead only two batters into the
game as junior second baseman
Mike Kanen hit a two-
run home run in the bottom
of the first. Junior shortstop
Kyle Neverman brought the
Blue Jays' total number of
runs up to three when he
scored on a wild pitch in the
bottom of the third. However,
Messiah battled back
with two runs of their own
and only trailed 3-2 entering
the fourth inning.
The Falcons then went
on to score three runs in
the top of the fourth and
clinch the lead for good.
Junior third baseman
Chris Wilhelm hit a solo
home run in response to
Messiah's comeback during
the bottom of the fourth
and narrowed the gap to
5-4, but Messiah scored another
run in the top of the
eighth to solidify a 6-4 win.
It was Messiah's first
win of the season and the
Falcons improved to 1-3.
Senior co-captain and
right-handed pitcher Sam
Eagleson took the loss for
the Blue Jays.
After a loss and a tie, the
team was more than ready
for a win at home. That
'W' would come two days
after the Messiah game,
as Hopkins defeated Rutgers-
Newark 5-4 for their
first win. Another senior
co -captai n
and righth
a n d e d
pitcher, Alex
Eliopoulous,
pitched seven
innings,
giving up
just a twoout
two-run
double in the
fourth before
getting all
but two batters
out the
remainder of
the time.
However, it was yet another
senior co-captain
and right-handed pitcher
Blake Platt, who came on in
the eighth to earn the win,
and senior closer Aaron
Schwartz, who came in to
shut the door in the ninth
inning to close out the
game for Hopkins and secure
the Jays' first win.
Trailing 2-0, Neverman
sent a ball soaring over the
right-centerfield fence in
the bottom of the eighth
to kick off the scoring for
the Blue Jays. The men kept
the runs coming throughout
the half-inning with
Kanen, Wilhelm, junior
catcher Ryan Zakszezki,
junior pinch-runner Adam
Weiner, junior outfielder
Matt Ricci, senior outfielder
Mike Musary and junior
outfielder Chris Vonderschmidt
all contributing to
a five-run inning.
"This team has a ton of
potential," said senior cocaptain
and catcher Aaron
Borenstein. "We are starting
to live up to it and are making
strides toward becoming
the team we all expect to be."
The team was looking
to build off their win when
they travelled to New Jersey
to take on the Profs of
Rowan College. Hopkins
had defeated Rowan in the 2010 NCAA Regional Tournament
to advance to the
World Series. Rowan was eager to avenge the loss.
Unfortunately for Hopkins,
the Profs came out
determined and scored
six runs in the bottom of
the seventh to break a 3-3
tie and win 9-3. Eagleson
pitched six strong innings
and gave up three runs
on five hits to take the nodecision,
while sophomore
right-hander Tyler Goldstein
took the loss after giving
up four runs on some
tough-luck, bleeder hits.
In the top of the third,
senior outfielder Scott Barrett
scored off of a single by
Borenstein to tie the game
at one. The Jays would later
gain a 3-2 lead on a Barrett
double to the right-centerfield
gap, but Hopkins
remained scoreless in the
final five frames.
Hopkins baseball rebounded
from the loss
with an 8-5 win over York
on Wednesday evening.
The team opened up scoring
in the first inning to pull ahead 2-0 after Lynch
fired off a single to bring in
Kanen and then scored off
of a Musary hit. Lynch and
Kanen both had big
days for the Blue
Jays, with Lynch
driving in four
runs and Kanen
scoring three times.
The duo, along with
Neverman, combined
for nine of
the team's 12 hits.
Senior righthanded
pitcher
Luke Henneman
took the win for the
Blue Jays after he
pitched 3.1 innings
out of the bullpen
and allowed just three hits.
Henneman struck out two
in the process.
"It was a big team effort
today," Henneman
said after the game, "The
hitters hit and fielded.
It's easy to pitch when I
know all the plays will
be made behind me. [Our
other pitchers] Kevin [Gillen]
and Aaron {Schwartz}
were dominant too."
Hopkins baseball takes
the field next Friday when
the team faces Stevenson
College at Stevenson.
Game time is set for 3 PM,
and the probable starter
for the Jays is Eliopolous.
The six-foot-six ace has 16
strikeouts in 12.1 innings
this year, but he will be
searching for his first win
of the 2012 season in the
game.
They will then travel to
Catholic University and
Randolph-Macon College
next week before departing
for the desert.