April 27, 2002

Box Score

ALLENTOWN, PA - Senior Yani Rosenberg (Baltimore, MD/Gilman) recorded his eighth victory and sophomore Craig Cetta (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) was 4-for-5 with four runs batted in as the Johns Hopkins baseball team earned a doubleheader split against Muhlenberg to secure the top seed in the inaugural Centennial Conference Baseball Tournament. The Blue Jays, 30-6 overall and 16-2 in the conference, fell 11-8 in game one before rebounding with a 14-3 win in the nightcap. Muhlenberg, with a 21-15 overall record and an 11-7 mark in the Centennial, has earned the fourth seed in the tournament.

The Centennial Tournament will begin on Friday, May 3rd and continue through Sunday, May 5th. As the No. 1 seed, Hopkins will host the games on Saturday and Sunday. No. 4 seed Muhlenberg will play at No. 3 seed Ursinus on Friday. The winner of that game will play No. 2 seed Franklin & Marshall on Saturday at JHU. The winner of the first game on Saturday will play the Blue Jays in a best-of-three series for the championship. Complete tournament details will be posted Monday, April 29 before noon.

JHU took a 2-0 lead in the opener as senior Karl Sineath (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) and junior Jay Cieri (Pine Brook, NJ/Montville) walked to start the first inning and later scored on a single and an error, respectively. After a Muhlenberg run in the bottom of inning, pinch runner Tim Casale (West Hempstead, NY/Chaminade) on sacrifice fly from sophomore Carl Ippolito (Ewing, NJ/Pennington School) to give the Blue Jays a 3-1 advantage.

Muhlenberg responded with five runs in the bottom of the second capped by a two-run double from Justin Rubenstein and a two-run home run from Joshua Carter. Hopkins rallied to tie the score at 6-6 with three runs in the top of the fifth, but the Mules tallied five runs in the bottom of the inning to take an 11-6 lead and put the game out of reach. Carter went the distance and picked up the win for Muhlenberg despite allowing eight runs on five hits and 13 walks.

Sineath walked four times, scored twice, and tied the school record with his 95th career stolen base. Ippolito was 1-for-3 with two runs batted in, and senior John Krivonak (Canfield, OH/Canfield) smacked an RBI double. Junior Jeremy Brown (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh School) suffered his first loss of the season after going 4.2 innings and allowing 11 runs on 11 hits.

Muhlenberg opened a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first of the nightcap as Justin Graf hit a solo home run and Carter singled and scored. The Blue Jays rebounded to score in each of the final six innings as JHU cruised to the 14-3 win. After two runs in the second, Cetta drove in two with a triple in the third and gave Hopkins a 7-2 lead in the fourth with an RBI single. JHU added one run in both the fifth and sixth innings before scoring five in the seventh to put the game away.

Cetta was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBIs, while junior Joe Urban (Nanticoke, PA/Bishop Hoban) went 3-for-3 and scored four runs. Senior Ben Taylor (Pawling, NY/Trinity-Pawling) was 3-for-4 with three runs and freshman Paul Winterling (Glenelg, MD/McDonogh School) added two RBIs.

Rosenberg won his 16th consecutive decision and improved to 8-0 on the year with his complete game victory. He allowed three runs on seven hits and recorded nine strikeouts to become JHU's all-time strikeout leader with 249 for his career. Rosenberg is now third at Hopkins with 27 career victories, just two short of the school record. Chris O'Conner took the loss for Muhlenberg after allowing eight runs on 12 hits in five innings.

The Blue Jays return to action Monday as JHU host Neumann College for a non-conference game at 3:30 p.m. Hopkins will then travel to Montclair State on Tuesday for a game at 7:00 p.m.

Game 1 Line Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, R H E
Johns Hopkins (29-6, 15-2 Centennial) 2 1 0 0 3 1 1, 8 5 2
Muhlenberg (21-14, 11-6 Centennial) 1 5 0 0 5 0 -, 11 12 3

Battery
Johns Hopkins - Brown, Lynch (5) and Hitchner
Muhlenberg - Carter and Sadler

Extra-Base Hits
2B - Krivonak (JHU), Morris (MC) 2, Graf (MC), Rubenstein (MC)
HR - Carter (MC)

Game 2 Line Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, R H E
Johns Hopkins (30-6, 16-2 Centennial) 0 2 3 2 1 1 5, 14 17 1
Muhlenberg (21-15, 11-7 Centennial) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1, 3 7 6

Battery
Johns Hopkins - Rosenberg and Prevas
Muhlenberg - O'Conner, White (6), Frein (7) and Rush

Extra-Base Hits
2B - Taylor (JHU), Cetta (JHU), Carter (MC)
3B - Cetta (JHU)
HR - Graf (MC)