GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – No. 1/1 Johns Hopkins ended No. 7/9
Shenandoah University's 2010 baseball season with a 7-4 win
Saturday afternoon in an elimination game at the NCAA Baseball
Championships.
Shenandoah (38-10) took the early lead on a solo HR from junior
Greg Van
Sickler in the second and pushed its advantage out to 2-0 with
an unearned run in the fifth, but Hopkins (44-6) had other
ideas.
The Jays, who were held to just three hits in the first 5.0
innings by Hornets starter Jake Yocum, got to
reliever Kyle
Scallion (4-1) in the eighth.
Scallion, who bailed Yocum out by inducing a double play in
sixth, allowed seven runs on six JHU hits in the eighth.
Left fielder Jesse Sikorski had the big hit, clearing the bases
with a double into the left-center gap that gave the Jays a 3-2
advantage.
In all, JHU sent 11 men to the plate in the frame and first
baseman Chris Huisman helped his team's cause with a double and an
RBI triple.
SU refused to fold its tents, however, scoring a pair of runs in
the bottom of the eighth on a Van Sickler single to center. The
junior All-America plated seniors Adam Delauter and Jon Holcomb, who
had each singled.
Shenandoah and Hopkins, the two best hitting teams in the
nation, combined for 17 hits in the contest with the Jays getting
nine and SU eight.
Van Sickler did the majority of the Hornets damage with two hits
in three trips and driving in three runs while classmate Mike Smith was also 2
for 3.
Sam Eagleson (12-0) went the distance for the victors. He
allowed four runs (three earned) on the eight hits, walked one and
struck out seven.
Scallion was tagged with the loss after allowing seven runs (six
earned) on five hits and one walk in 2 2/3. Smith finished up and
allowed one hit (the Huisman triple) in the final 1 1/3.
The loss ends the Hornets season with a school-record-tying 38
wins. SU has been 38-10 in each of the last two years.
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