Box Score

Grand Chute, Wis. - Johns Hopkins University (Md.) (40-6) appears to be a marked team after its 2-0 start at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

Its starting pitcher from Saturday’s (May 24) 5-4 win over top-ranked Chapman University (Calif.) (40-4) now has a mark of his own that defines the grittiness the Blue Jays have shown during their two days in Grand Chute, which included a 14-inning win over Adrian College (Mich.) on Friday (May 23) in the second-longest game in the history of the NCAA Division III Championship.

Chapman’s Ryan Prechtl lined Johns Hopkins starter Chez Angeloni’s seventh inning pitch into the grass in front of the pitcher’s mound and the ball violently ricocheted off Angeloni’s knee, redirecting toward his head where it knocked his cap to the ground. Angeloni calmly recovered the ball near the first base line and threw out Prechtl at first. He then took a few warm-up tosses before retiring Kurt Yacko on a routine grounder to end the frame.
 
“It got me pretty good on the knee, but I didn’t realize how much it hurt until after the play. It happened really fast, I was just glad I was able to find the ball and then throw the runner out,” said Angeloni.

John Hopkins’ heady defensive play carried over into the next inning, when Chapman’s Mike Vass bounced a ball deep behind third base and Todd Emr’s throw to first sailed into the bullpen on the first base line. Second basemen Nate Adelman ran the ball down and managed to throw out Vass as he slid into second base.

“My first thought was that the ball was foul and I was ready to go out and argue that until we got the out,” stated Johns Hopkins head coach Bob Babb. “It was really good hustle by our guys not to quit on the play and has been typical of the kind of effort that Nate (Adelman) gives us at second base.”

The Johns Hopkins offense had needed 14 innings to record three runs and 13 hits on Friday but was more productive against the Panthers, as the squad banged out 12 hits and scored single runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead.

Babb talked about the difference a day makes.

“We looked much better at the plate today and probably left some runs on the field. We made much better contact and had some long loud outs and hard hit balls that might have been hits on other days,” Babb said.

The Blue Jays’ final three runs came in the fifth, when Brian Youchak  took a pitch up the middle for a run-scoring single and then came around to score on Emr’s two-run single to left field that put Johns Hopkins back on top 5-4.

“Had these two guys (Youchak and Emr) been healthy a year ago, I think we would have been in the World Series,” added Babb.

Chapman had shown why it entered as the top team in the land earlier in the game, as the Cougars strung together five hits with two outs in the third inning to rally and take a 4-2 lead.

Kyle Redding and Prechtl started the rally with singles and Redding came around to score on Yacko’s double down the left field line. Mike Vass followed with a single up the middle that brought home Prechtl and Yacko, before advancing to second on the throw to the plate. Stuart Hyman followed with a single to score Vass.

Angeloni settled down after the third inning and limited Chapman to four hits the rest of the way. He allowed 10 hits, no walks and struck out six during the complete-game effort.

He commented on his game plan, “My sinker was catching too much of the plate early when they got the hits on me. I worked on keeping my sinker down and tried to bust them inside with the hard stuff to keep them off balance. I really just tried to throw strikes and let the guys play defense behind me.”

Yacko threw four innings of two-hit relief that included pitching out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs.

“He (Angeloni) threw a great game,” Yacko said. “After scoring four times in the third, we thought we had shook him mentally and that we would be able to get to him and knock him out of the game, but to his credit he hung in there and was able to regain his confidence.”

Chapman head coach Tom Tereschuk remains confident as well.
 
“It was a great baseball game and we just happened to run into a really hot team that beat us,” Tereschuk said. “We didn’t play poorly and were just never able to get that big hit later in the game. We know we are a good club as well and that’s why this is a double-elimination tournament.”

By Matt Troha (Midwest Conference Sports Information Director)