SALISBURY, Md. - The 2009 Salisbury University
baseball season came to a close on Friday morning at Arthur W.
Perdue Stadium in the NCAA Division III South Regional. The
top-seed Sea Gulls lost a 6-0 lead to the hands of seventh-seed
Johns Hopkins University in an elimination game as the Blue Jays
scored 11 unanswered runs, in the final six innings, to advance
with the 11-6 win.
Salisbury (38-8), ranked No. 3 in the nation, conclude its
second straight season with a loss to Johns Hopkins (26-15) in the
South Regional. Last year, the Blue Jays beat the Sea Gulls 9-4 in
the regional final. In both regional contests between
Salisbury-Johns Hopkins the Blue Jays victory was keyed by a
six-run inning.
"We just haven't found a way to shut them down," said SU coach
Doug Fleetwood. "We couldn't keep them off the
bases. We played hard but Hopkins was better today."
Salisbury took control of the game the top of the fourth inning
as the Sea Gulls scored six runs off JHU starter Matt Wiegand. The
first three SU batters reached base via a single, double and a
plunked batter as Wiegand hit third baseman Chad
Wolfe to load the bases. Freshman Bill
Morton stepped to the plate and blasted his fourth home
run of the season, a grand slam, to give the maroon and gold the
early 4-0 lead. Wiegand hit another Sea Gull batter and walked SU
sophomore catcher Andrew Miller to end his day on
the mound for the Jays. Wiegand lasted three innings where he
surrendered six runs on four hits, walked three and hit three
batters. Sophomore Will Evans scored moments later
for SU off a wild pitch thrown by JHU reliever Greg Harbeck (4-1).
Junior catcher Ryan Smith knocked in Miller with a
RBI-single to give SU the six-run lead.
JHU got a run back in the bottom half of the fourth inning off a
RBI-triple before things imploded on Salisbury in the fifth inning.
The Blue Jays recorded six straight hits, including two doubles,
as they scored six runs to take the lead for good, 7-6. Salisbury
used three pitchers in the fifth inning as JHU outfielder Jesse
Sikorski (six RBIs) hit a key three-run double to empty the bases
for the Jays.
JHU added four more runs in the seventh inning as Sikorski
connected on a three-run home run. The Blue Jays middle of the
batting order (No. 3-7) recorded all 11 RBIs and scored eight runs
for Hopkins.
SU used five different pitchers as sophomore Mark
Peterson (0-1), who only faced two batters in the fifth
inning, took the loss for the Sea Gulls.
The two teams combined to hit six batters and turn four double
plays (three by the SU defense).
The loss marks the final game for Salisbury's five seniors
including All-Americans Randy Boyle and
Eric Willey along with Mike
Loomis, Jordan Crystal and Cody
Collins. In four seasons the Sea Gulls have won four
Capital Athletic Conference championships, made the NCAA tournament
each season and accumulated a career record of 149-32.
"They [seniors] have been super people to be around," said
Fleetwood.
The future remains bright for the Sea Gulls as SU is slated to
return junior first baseman Mike Celenza, the CAC
Player of the Year, along with 2009 All-CAC honorees Kyle
Judson, Ryan Smith and Andrew
Miller and Dustin Herbert.
"My expectation is we're going to be right here, or wherever
(the Regional) happens to be, fighting for it again. We won't
accept anything less than that," said Fleetwood. "We've got some
great young kids here and we've got a great recruiting class coming
in, so we feel real good about it [the future]."
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