SALISBURY, Md. - No. 17 Shenandoah University completed the first day of play at the 2009 Salisbury NCAA Regional with an 8-2 victory over seventh-seeded Johns Hopkins.
With the win in its first-ever NCAA Tournament contest, Shenandoah (34-8) moves on to face No. 6 York (Pa.) at 7:45 Thursday night. The Spartans downed N.C. Wesleyan 12-1 in the contest immediately preceding the Hornets victory.
SU sophomore Greg Van Sickler (8-2) was once again outstanding as he won his third straight decision on the mound.
After allowing an unearned run in the top of the first to the Blue Jays (24-15), Van Sickler settled down to allow just one more run on nine hits in 7.0 innings pitched. Van Sickler gave way to senior Matthew Davis after allowing a leadoff single in the eighth, and Davis mowed through the final six outs to close out the victory.
Davis struck out four of the seven hitters he faced and the only baserunner he allowed reached on an error.
The Hornets offense also showed no ill effects from a two-week layoff with 14 hits off of three JHU pitchers.
After falling behind on that single run in the first, Shenandoah took a lead it would not relinquish with a three-run second.
With two outs and Cory Nelson on first via a walk, Josh Simons, Jon Holcomb, Kevin Brashears and Scott Lambert had consecutive singles off of Hopkins starter Chez Angeloni (4-3) to provide Van Sickler with all of the offense he would need.
Van Sickler helped himself one inning later by leading off with a double down the left field line and scoring on a Nelson groundout to second.
Coach Kevin Anderson's club then put the finishing touches on the win one run in the fifth, two in the sixth and one more in the eighth.
Eight of the nine Hornet hitters had at least one hit with Van Sickler and Brashears contributing three each. Brashears finished his night 3 for 5 with three RBI and needed just a home run to complete the cycle.
The win is the 25th for the team against non-conference competition.
