BALTIMORE, MD - The Swarthmore College baseball team picked up an important series split with a road victory over conference rival Johns Hopkins, 8-3, on Friday night.
The Garnet pitching staff bounced back from a challenging series opener as the bullpen combined for six shutout innings. Swarthmore silenced the Blue Jays' bats with key innings from
Owen Webb,
Rohan Cherukuri and
Zach Camp. A senior, Camp had his best outing of the season as he tossed 3.1 scoreless with four strikeouts.
On the offensive side,
Matthew Silvestre,
Nate Jbara and
Paul Cooke highlighted a big offensive performance with solo homers for the Garnet. Jbara led the way with three RBI, while
Austin Burgess also added a pair of RBI.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Silvestre opened the scoring with a home run to left field in the second inning. Cooke then followed up Silvestre's shot with a solo homer to right field to give the Garnet a two-run lead, 2-0.
- After the Blue Jays tied the game in the bottom of the second, the Garnet answered back with a run in the third.
Sam Jacobson reached base on a bunt to the third base to open the frame, and later advanced into scoring position on a
Luke Mutz single. Moments later, both runners executed a double steal to advance a base, while Jacobson later came around to score on a Burgess groundout, 3-2.
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Nate Jbara hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to build Swarthmore's lead back to two runs. Hopkins then answered with a leadoff homer in the bottom half, before Webb entered the game in relief to retire three consecutive batters. Webb and Cherukuri then combined for a clean fifth inning to preserve the Garnet's one-run advantage, 4-3.
- Jbara doubled in two runs after Burgess and Silvestre reached base to open the sixth inning. Camp then shut the door in the bottom half after striking out his only batter of the inning with a runner on third base, 6-3.
- After two more clean innings from Camp, the Garnet added two insurance runs in the eighth inning. Swarthmore plated one run on an error, while Burgess drove in the other run with a sacrafice flyout, 8-3.
GARNET OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Jbara: 2-for-4, 3 RBI, HR, 2B
Silvestre: 2-for-4, HR
Cooke: 1-for-3, HR
GARNET PITCHING LEADERS
Webb (W, 1-0), 1.1 IP, 0 R, 2 SO, 0 H
Cherukuri: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 2 SO, 1 H
Camp (SV, 1), 3.1 IP, 0 R, 4 SO, 2 H
UP NEXT
The Garnet (10-14, 3-1) continue conference play with two games against Gettysburg College on Saturday.
