COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College baseball team went toe to toe with red-hot Johns Hopkins in a showdown of the top two teams in the Centennial Conference, but a three-run seventh inning in each game separated the Blue Jays for a sweep of the Bears' Senior Day series.
Junior Travis Kozak finished with four hits on the day and freshman Alex Mumme hammered his second home run of the season for Ursinus (21-11, 8-5), which honored its 18 seniors in a pregame ceremony.
With a 4-2 victory in the opener and a 7-4 decision in the nightcap, No. 8/9 Johns Hopkins (28-6, 13-1) extended its winning streak to 11 and locked up the number one seed and home-field advantage in the Centennial Conference championship tournament. Ursinus remains in the number two spot despite the sweep.
Game 1: Johns Hopkins 4, Ursinus 2
Junior Pierce Greenleaf and Preston Betz were locked into a pitchers' duel from the start, trading zeroes for the first four innings. Greenleaf walked a tightrope for his part, stranding six runners through four with some help from his defense. Senior Alex Campbell leapt to snare a hot shot at third with two outs and a runner on second in the second, and freshman Dom Fiorentino dove to rob a leadoff single in the fifth.
The Bears broke the stalemate in the bottom of the fifth. Senior Kieran Geyer doubled to left-center and, after a pair of outs, Kozak delivered an RBI single through the right side of the infield.
Hopkins answered right back in the sixth, putting its first two on base before a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly knotted the ballgame at 1.
The Blue Jays broke the game open with three runs in the seventh. Two walks – one of them by Greenleaf, who exited with one out and a man on first – and a single loaded the bags with one out, and a fielder's choice RBI provided the go-ahead run. After a wild pitch, Mike Eberle bounced a seeing-eye single up the middle to score two and make it 4-1.
The Bears got one back in the eighth, Kozak tripling to right-center and scampering home on Campbell's groundout, but a one-out error in the ninth proved fruitless as Sean McCracken shut the door with a pair of strikeouts.
Kozak and Campbell each finished 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Bears, while Geyer hit the ball hard several times. Kurey reached base twice with a single and a walk. Ursinus had its chances, but went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Betz allowed one run on five hits with two strikeouts in 5.1 innings, and McCracken (3-1) struck out three with just one hit allowed over the final 3.2 frames.
Greenleaf (4-2) struck out four and walked three in a strong start; he conceded seven hits and two runs in 6.1 innings. Junior Matt Radwanski and senior Brandon Weidenfeld provided 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Game 2: Johns Hopkins 7, Ursinus 4
Ursinus fell behind 1-0 on an unearned run in the first, but took advantage of a two-out error by the Blue Jays to take the lead on a two-run homer by freshman Alex Mummer, just over the fence in dead center field.
Geyer's heads-up play manufactured a 3-1 lead in the fifth. The senior walked, went to second on an errant pickoff, and took third when the Blue Jays' catcher threw down to first to complete a strikeout. Diana singled off the glove of the shortstop in the drawn-in infield to score Geyer.
Ryan Orgielewicz led off the sixth with a solo shot to cut the Bears' lead to 3-2, but the home side got one right back in the bottom half on Fiorentino's RBI single through the right side. Unfortunately for Ursinus, that was its last hit of the game.
The Blue Jays pulled within 4-3 on Conor Reynolds' RBI single and chased Ursinus senior Seth Regensburg after a single put runners on first and second with one out. After a walk, Orgielewicz sliced a two-run double down the right-field line to put Hopkins ahead for good. Reynolds had an RBI triple and scored on Brian Lin's single in the eighth.
Kozak had two more hits for Ursinus. Regensburg (5-2) took a hard-luck loss, pitching well in his 6.1 innings; he as charged with five runs – four earned – on six hits, walking three and striking out five. Weidenfeld got the last two outs of the eighth and sophomore Matt Rapp worked a 1-2-3 ninth.
Up Next
The Bears complete their home-and-home series at Swarthmore on Monday.
