Jays baseball season starts with 7-7 tie

Blue Jays baseball remains
unbeaten in its last
seven season-openers
after their game on Feb.
27th against 10th-ranked
Alvernia, albeit in a rather
unconventional fashion.
The game was ended at 7-7
after the end of the ninthinning
due to darkness,
notching Head coach Bob
Babb's 11th career tie, one
of only 25 in all of Hopkins
baseball history.
Despite the decent results,
though, the game
itself was considered disappointing
for a team that
is expected to do very well
this season.
"Although we still tied,
it wasn't our best game by
far," said senior left-handed
pitcher Ryan Kahn.
Alvernia appeared first
on the scoreboard off of an
error by senior right-handed
pitcher Alex Eliopoulos
in the top of the second.
The Crusaders squeezed
across another two runs in
the top of the sixth to lay
claim to a 3-0 lead. The Blue
Jays soon responded, however,
off the bats of juniors
Jeff Lynch, Hank Sanders
and Ryan Zakszeski.
Lynch, a first baseman,
and Sanders, the team's
left fielder, each had RBI
base hits, with Lynch's a
double to the right-center
field gap. Zakszeski added
a sacrifice fly to even the
score at three apiece.
Hopkins eventually
gained a 7-4 lead over Alvernia
from junior second
baseman Mike Kanen's
three-run home run, the
first of his career. However,
the lead was lost as the re-
sult of several Blue Jay wild
pitches and a bases-loaded
walk. This back-and-forth
of errors and walks ended
up playing an important
role in the game.
"If you look at it on paper,"
Kahn said, "if you
compare the statistics, the
game could have easily
gone their way."
Each team had four errors,
all of which resulted at
least indirectly in a run for
the opponent. Despite the
sloppy play on each side,
though, Kahn asserted that
Hopkins had "the intangibles,"
which accounted
for the results; intangibles
that were very important in
a game where the tangibles
couldn't be found.
If Hopkins hopes to
consistently do well in its
upcoming games, it will
have to refocus itself and
return to the fundamentals
it boasted before their
first game, including both
strong pitching and leadership.
Despite the negatives,
though, the season is early,
and the Blue Jays earned a
good result against, "One
of the top teams in the region
and country," according
to Kahn and the Division
III polls.
The season has just
begun and some strong
points can be found in both
the Jays' hitting and pitching.
Understanding their
flaws, Hopkins hopes to
capitalize on its strengths
and to start winning over
the next few weeks.
JHU returns to action
on Thursday against Messiah
before facing off with
Rutgers-Newark for a double-
header on Saturday.
Both games are at home.