The Hopkins baseball team dominated in their doubleheader against conference rival the McDaniel College Green Terror this past weekend. In total, Hopkins scored 14 runs and had four homers. McDaniel, on the other hand, scored a total of four runs.
Two of the Green Terror runs came from an error, and another was in the eighth inning of a blow out against only half of the starting field for Hopkins. The Blue Jays won the first game 5-3 and the second 9-1 to improve to a 3-3 record on the year.
The first game started off competitive. Both teams ended up with the same scenario in the first inning: bases loaded, but a strikeout ending any chance of scoring.
The first score of the game came from junior catcher James Ingram, who was able to capitalize on a wild pitch after getting on base with a double as the leadoff hitter in the second inning.
McDaniel returned the favor in the top of the fourth. Two back-to-back errors lead to the bases being loaded, which then led to two McDaniel runs on two consecutive at-bats.
In the fifth inning, junior first baseman Jared DeFaria got a single RBI with graduate student Dillon Bowman scoring. In the bottom of the sixth, junior third baseman Jack Walters smashed a home run with Ingram on second base, adding two more Hopkins runs.
Junior outfielder Isaiah Winikur hit a homer off the scoreboard, nearly leaving a dent in it. Winikur shared his thoughts on the play
“It felt crazy honestly. Since we started practicing on the field, I was wondering if I ever was going to hit one off the scoreboard, so for it to happen on my first day playing at our home field was amazing,” he said. “I heard the sound of the ball hit something when I was approaching second, so I had an idea, but I didn’t see it with my eyes. [Senior pitcher] Jack Archer told me in the dugout where it hit, and I felt like the man.”
McDaniel managed to score again on a single RBI in the top of the eighth. Then in the top of the ninth, the leadoff hitter for McDaniel was walked. Hopkins pulled their pitcher right after.
The next pitcher, junior Ben Keever, let up one hit but was able to generate two outs during this span. However, with two runners on base, Keever found himself in some trouble, which led head coach Bob Babb to make a pitching change.
Freshman Wyatt Copeland took the mound to finish the job. Striking out the batter looking, Copeland needed just one pitch to give Hopkins the win in game one of the doubleheader.
In the first inning of the second game, Winikur put the Jays on the board with another solo shot toward the scoreboard. Senior infielder Mark Lopez’s homer brought home junior catcher AJ King and sophomore catcher Sam Frank, giving Hopkins the 4-0 lead through the second inning. The scoring kept going in the third inning.
DeFaria started off this inning with an RBI double bringing in senior infielder Matthew Ritchie. Next, King singled, bringing Winikur home off third. Graduate student infielder Dai Dai Otaka added an RBI of his own with a single. Lopez hit a fly out to left field, but he got an RBI with Frank scoring.
In the fourth inning, King knocked in a single that allowed Winikur to score, extending the lead to 9-0. By the fifth inning, Hopkins began switching out their starting lineup, giving the starters a rest. By the time McDaniel scored their first and only run at the top of the eighth, Hopkins essentially had a different team on the field.
Winikur credited the performance to the team as a whole and especially the pitchers.
“All of our players stepped it up in the field, but our pitchers deserve a great amount of credit as they were carving through the McDaniel lineup. It makes it much easier for the fielders to have pitchers who are taking care of business and keep runners off base,” he said.
The Blue Jays will look to carry the momentum when they play the Washington College Shoremen at Babb Field this weekend.
Matthew Ritchie is a Sports Editor for The News-Letter. He did not contribute reporting, writing or editing to this article.
