#16 Blue Jays Take a Pair from Garnet
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- Behind solid pitching from starter Ryan Kulhman in game one and reliever Patrick Steffee in game two, the 16th-ranked Johns Hopkins Blue Jays swept Swarthmore, 9-0 and 15-4, in Centennial Conference action on a breezy Saturday afternoon on Clothier Fields.
Third baseman Patrick Christmas '08 led the Garnet offense with a total of four hits.
Righthander Alex Ryan-Bond '07 got the game one start for the Garnet and retired the first two men he faced before hitting catcher Rob Sanzillo. Sanzillo tried to get into scoring position, but was thrown out by Swarthmore catcher Andy Bender '08. Sanzillo is Bender's third base-running victim of the season.
The Blue Jays got on the board in top of the second inning. With the bases loaded and none out, Ryan-Bond coaxed Todd Emr to pop the ball into short left field and shortstop Conor Casey '09 backed up and made a twisting catch. As Casey threw home, Gary Rosenberg tagged and scored. Rob Pietroforte tried to advance to third, but Bender gunned it to Christmas, who lay the tag down just in time for the out. Ryan-Bond then got Tim Sliker to fly out to end the threat.
Hopkins struck for another run in the top of the fourth when Pietroforte tripled and Corey Gleason singled him in to make the score 2-0.
Meanwhile, Kuhlman was stifling the Garnet bats; he held Swarthmore to just one hit over the first four innings.
The rains came at 12:21, driving the Garnet to the dugout as they warmed up for the top of the fifth frame. It would be a short-lived downpour, though, and 28 minutes later, Ryan-Bond was back on the hill. The visitors welcomed back the righthander with three more runs in the fifth, extending the lead to 5-0.
Swarthmore designated hitter Travis Allen '08 doubled to deep left center with one out in the fifth, but was cut down trying to stretch the hit into a triple.
Johns Hopkins added a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh to close out the scoring.
Ryan-Bond (1-4) went the distance for Swarthmore, allowing all nine runs (eight earned) on 14 hits. He walked two and struck out one in his third complete game of the season. Kuhlman (2-0) picked up his first shutout of the season for the Blue Jays, allowing just three hits and striking out nine.
Garnet first baseman Sam Faeder '07 went hitless for the first time in 2006, ending his season-long hit streak at an impressive 13 games.
In game two, Hopkins scored a pair in the top of the first, but Swarthmore's bats woke up, scoring two runs for the home team in the bottom of the first. Christmas ripped a double, scoring captain Scott Young '06, for his 15th RBI of the season, matching his team-leading total from 2005. Later in the inning, Bender singled Christmas for his career-best 12th RBI of the season.
JHU's Todd Emr homered to left-center in the top of the second to give the lead back to the Blue Jays. It was the second home run hit this season over the new fences at Clothier Fields.
The Garnet scored twice more in the second frame to take their first lead at 4-3. Faeder hit the ball over the head of left fielder Jon Solomon for a triple, scoring Grant Yoshitsu '09, and Faeder later scored on a Christmas single. Unfortunately, the Blue Jay bats continued to sizzle, as the visitors scored at least once in each of the first five innings and the visitors built a 9-4 lead behind fine relief work from right-hander Steffee, who picked up the win after pitching 5.0 scoreless innings.
The Blue Jays (15-3-2, 3-0-1 CC) continued to flex their power muscles late in the game, as Mike Pietroforte and pinch hitter Nick Venezia each went deep off Swarthmore freshman hurler Yoi Tibbets '09.
Southpaw Andrew Bail came in for the bottom of the eighth and closed the door for the visitors, striking out the Swarthmore side in the final frame.
Swarthmore starter Justin Chen '08 (1-3) went seven innings, allowing 10 runs (nine earned) on 11 hits to take the loss. He walked four and struck out four. Tibbets allowed five runs in two innings of work.
Christmas led the offense with three hits in five at bats, extending his hit streak to nine games and raising his season average to .350. Faeder rebounded in the second game with a pair of knocks, including his second triple of 2006, in five trips to the plate.
The Garnet (5-10, 0-4 CC) return to action on Tuesday vs. Centennial Conference counterpart Ursinus at 3:30 p.m right here on Clothier Fields.