#22 Johns Hopkins - 6, Farmingdale State - 2
Baltimore, Md. - The Farmingdale State baseball team fell to host-school #22 Johns Hopkins, 6-2, in their first game at the NCAA Regionals on Friday afternoon. The Blue Jays scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning en route to the victory.
FSC (32-8) opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning as junior right fielder Vincent Rice (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) hit a solo homerun over the left field fence to put the Rams in front, 1-0. Later in the inning, sophomore catcher Michael Amandola (North Babylon, N.Y.) hit a two-out single and came all the way around to score on a failed pick-off to go up by two.
Still leading 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Farmingdale State junior pitcher Steven Burke (North Babylon, N.Y.) (L, 6-1) retired the first two batters of the inning before Johns Hopkins (31-11) senior right fielder Chris DeGiacomo (Norwell, Mass.) hit an infield single. The next two batters, freshman designated hitter AJ King (Cincinnati, Ohio) and sophomore third baseman Matt Ritchie (Ashburn, Va.), each registered RBI doubles to tie the game at 2-2. After a walk put runners on first and second sophomore second baseman Mark Lopez (Baltimore, Md.) tallied a three-run homerun to give the Blue Jays a 5-2 advantage.
Johns Hopkins senior pitcher Josh Hejka (Dearborn, Mich.) (W, 6-2, CG, 9.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 11 SO) held FSC scoreless over the final three innings as the Blue Jays went on for the 6-2 win.
Rice went 2-for-4 at the plate with his solo homerun, while Amandola tallied a hit and one run scored. Junior second baseman Tyler Schrimpf (Miller Place, N.Y.) added one hit and a stolen base in defeat.
Ritchie finished 2-for-3 with a walk, double, RBI and one run scored in the win.
The Rams next play #8 TCNJ in an elimination game tomorrow, Saturday, May 18th starting at 11:00 a.m. Be sure to check out the tournament page for live stats and video.
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