No. 22 Johns Hopkins 9, Penn State Harrisburg 6

Harrisburg Lineup

1. Smith cf, 2. McSorley ss, 3. Williams lf, 4. Van Houten 3b, 5. Winters rf, 6. Aug c, 7. Closson dh, 8. Koroneos 1b, 9. Parks 2b, Fitzgerald p

JHU Lineup

1. Eberle 3b, 2. Ritchie 2b, 3. Festa cf, 4. King c, 5. Sacks rf, 6. Ingram lf, 7. Ainsworth 1b, 8. Kohl ss, 9. Dillard dh, Bowman p

How It Happened

Penn State Harrisburg and No. 22 Johns Hopkins put on a show at the plate and combined to hit eight home runs, with the hometown Blue Jays erasing an early deficit and claiming a 9-6 victory on Wednesday afternoon, March 4.

Casey Winters finished with three hits, including a home run and a double, while Bret Williams and Tyler Aug also hit homers. Reliever Tyler Jackson turned in a strong performance in his second outing of the season, allowing just one hit and one walk to go along with three strikeouts in three innings of work.

The Lions (3-2) got on the board first when Williams launched a solo shot over the fence in center field in the top of the first and Aug padded the lead with a two-run blast in the top of the second frame.

Johns Hopkins (5-3) answered with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the second and again with back-to-back blasts in the bottom of the third, giving the home team its first lead of the day at 4-3.

Winters showed off his power in the top of the fourth, however, when he smacked a two-run home run past the foul pole in right field to reclaim the advantage for the Blue & White.

Then, for the third time on the afternoon, the Blue Jays had an answer in the form of back-to-back homers that swung the lead back to JHU in the bottom of the fifth. Johns Hopkins tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth frame, pushing the advantage to 9-5 heading into the seventh.

Penn State Harrisburg threatened to begin the top of the eighth as each of the first two batters reached base. The Blue Jays worked out of the jam by turning a double play but Winters struck again with an RBI double that plated Ryan McSorley and cut the deficit to three. Unfortunately, that's as close as the Blue & White would get, as they went down in order in the top of the ninth.

At the Plate

- Casey Winters led the way, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, two RBI and two runs scored.

- Bret Williams went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

- Tyler Aug hit a two-run home run.

- Chris Festa went 2-for-4 with two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored for JHU.

On the Mound

- Nick Fitzgerald got the start for Penn State Harrisburg, exiting after 2.2 innings of work.

- Zach Gettys threw 2.1 innings before giving way to Tyler Jackson.

- Jackson was strong in three innings thrown, striking out three and allowing just one hit and one walk.

- Ben Keever earned the win for the Blue Jays, allowing two walks and no hits in 2.1 innings of work.

Around the Diamond

- The Lions committed one error, while Johns Hopkins was clean in the field.

- Travis Van Houten had Penn State Harrisburg's lone stolen base.

- Adam Kohl swiped a bag for JHU.

- Ryan McSorley had three assists from his shortstop position.

Who's Next?

The Lions head south and open their spring break slate by taking on N.C. Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon, March 7.

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