Friday, May 28, 2010

Guide to the College World Series:

The top-ranked Johns Hopkins baseball team will open play in the 2010 NCAA Division III College World Series on Friday, May 28 at 5:30 pm (EST) against Heidelberg. The Blue Jays are making their third trip the World Series under head coach Bob Babb and hope to take the next step: JHU placed third in its first trip (1989) and second in its last appearance (2008).

Here is all the information you need to follow the Blue Jays as they take their quest for the national championship to the field:

Live Stats, Live Audio, Live Video: Live stats will be available for all games at the College World Series. Some games will also have live audio available and live video will be offered for the games on Monday and Tuesday. Access all three here: http://www.d3baseball.com/schedule/2010-05-28

JHU Blog: Johns Hopkins assistant SID Jill Olsen will be blogging throughout the weekend and has already posted several updates since the team arrived in Wisconsin on Wednesday. Check out the blog, which will include details of the team away from the field throughout its stay, here: http://hopkinssports.blogspot.com/

Photo Galleries: Several photo galleries have already been added to HopkinsSports.com and we’ll continue to add them as the weekend unfolds. Check out the existing photo galleries here: http://www.hopkinssports.com/photogallery/gallery_index.html?school=jhop&sport=&

Hopkins Baseball Gear: Available now in the official online store of Hopkins Athletics: http://store.cstv.com/marketplace/store_contents.cfm?store_id=346&product_id=170336&partner_id=13968

Hopkins Baseball in Print: Needless to say, the Blue Jays have enjoyed a great deal of media coverage in the days leading up to the College World Series. Here are the links to a few of the stories that have appeared:

Hopkins Shortstop a Winner Already: Read about Tim Rappazzo’s courageous battle against cancer and his return to the Blue Jay lineup: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-hopkins-baseball-rappazzo-20100526,0,7437900.story

Johns Hopkins Baseball Seniors Scoop Up Diplomas: A Baltimore Sun story on the special graduation held for the seniors on the Johns Hopkins baseball team: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-hopkins-world-series-20100524-19,0,2125874.story

Hopkins Duo Brings Playoff Experience: Sam Eagleson and Sam Wernick helped lead the Johns Hopkins football team to the NCAA Quarterfinals last fall. Now, their on the cusp of a national championship with the Blue Jay baseball team: http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2010/05/25/hopkins-duo-brings-playoff-experience.html

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

JHU pair sports playoff experience (from d3baseball.com)


Johns Hopkins sophomores Sam Eagleson and Sam Wernick figured to have a hard time topping the season they enjoyed with the 2009 Blue Jay football team. After all, the duo helped guide Johns Hopkins to the Centennial Conference title, a school-record 10 wins and the NCAA quarterfinals. The trip to the quarterfinals was the first in school history and was highlighted by wins at previously undefeated Hampden-Sydney (23-7) and Thomas More (31-29) in the first and second rounds of the playoffs, respectively.

Nearly six months after that magical ride ended, consider it topped. With Eagleson pitching and Wernick sharing duties in right field, the Johns Hopkins baseball team is ranked No. 1 in the D3baseball.com Top 25 entering this week's Division III College World Series. The Blue Jays cruised to the Centennial Conference Championship,knocked off three-time defending Mid-Atlantic Regional Champion Kean, 8-3, on Sunday to earn a spot in the CWS and fashion a 43-5 record. Uncluded in the 43 wins was a 32-game winning streak--the longest winning streak in the nation this season and one shy of the school-record 3-game run JHU enjoyed to open the 2004 season.

The 43 wins this season are also one better than JHU accumulated in 2008, when the Blue Jays came within one strike of winning the national championship.

JHU's hopes for that elusive national championship are bolstered by the play of Eagleson and Wernick, who arrived at Homewood as freshman three months after the bitter defeat to Trinity in the 2008 title game. Eagleson earned Second Team All-Centennial honors as a cornerback in football in 2009 as he finished sixth on the team with 53 tackles and added team-highsc of six interceptions and nine pass breakups. In two seasons, he counts 97 tackles, 15 pass breakups and seven interceptions to his credit. Wernick, who earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors in football and baseball last year, is just as productive as Eagleson as a wide receiver on the other side of the ball. Despite being slowed by injury early in the season, he totaled 51 receptions for 451 yards and one touchdown and counts 88 receptions for 1,114 yards and five TD's to his credit in two seasons.

Those individual efforts in football also figured to be hard to top. Again, consider it done.

Eagleson didn't throw a pitch for the Blue Jays as a freshman, but heads to Appleton, Wisconsin, this year with an 11-0 record, a 2.45 ERA and 54 strikeouts against just 22 walks in 73.1 innings. The opposition has hit just. 207 against him this season and he has already picked up the Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Year awards, with a shot at being named to the D3baseball.com All-American team this week. (EDITORS NOTE: Eagleson was named to the All-American team the day after this article was published)

Wernick has played in 34 games with 21 starts in right field. He is hitting .367 and ranks second on the team with 17 stolen bases on 19 attempts. He counts 33 hits and 27 runs scored to his credit and uses his wide receiver speed to track down balls in the alley.

Johns Hopkins will be making its third appearance in the Division III World Series, all of which have come under the wathful eye of head coach Bob Babb, who needs just one win to reach 900 in his career. Hopkins grabbed a third-place showing in 1989 and added the runner-up finish in 2008.

If Eagleson and Wernick have anything to do with it, they may just have what it takes to top that.

Also, Johns Hopkins head coach Bob Babb was interviewed on WMAR in Baltiomre on Tuesday morning, with his team headed to Appleton for the second time in three seasons. See the full video below!



D3baseball.com names 2010 All-Americans

Division III All-American baseball players typically stand out statistically ... so what are the stats for the "average" first-team position player All-American? A batting average of .453, with 61 runs scored, 80 hits, 18 doubles, three triples, 13 home runs, with 62 runs batted in, eight stolen bases, and a fielding percentage of .961.

What about the average first-team All-American starting pitcher? They have an earned run average of 2.01, having pitched 78 innings, allowing 60 hits, while striking out 79, and holding the opposition to a batting average of .211. These numbers put into perspective the caliber of the 2010 NCAA Division III first-team All-Americans.


The 2010 D3baseball.com player of the year is outfielder Dave Kahn, of the No. 1 ranked Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. Kahn batted .473, with 72 runs scored and 79 hits. He had 16 home runs and 70 RBIs. Kahn was joined on the first team by fellow Blue Jays Brian Youchak (2nd base; AA 1st team 2008) and pitcher Sam Eagleson. In total, Hopkins will bring five All-Americans to Fox Cities Stadium, when they play No.2 ranked Heidellberg in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Division III World Series.

St. Thomas' Matt Schuld is the 2010 D3baseball.com Pitcher of the Year. Schuld led the Tommies with 10 wins. He had an ERA of 2.05, pitched 83.1 innings and struck out 80 batters, while holding opponents to a batting average of .211. Schuld was a third-team selection in 2009.

Joining Kahn, Schuld, Youchak and Eagleson on the 2010 first-team are catcher Regan Dixon of Hardin-Simmons (3rd team 2009), Justin Franklin of Ferrum (1st base), Willie Brechun of Heidelberg (3rd base), Josh Fyffe of Penn State Behren (ss), Kevin Brashears of Shenandoah (OF), Ricardo Lizcano of Heidelberg (OF), DH Mike Marion of Virginia Wesleyan, Greg Van Sickler of Shenandoah (UTL), as well as pitchers Chris Degoti (Tufts), Dave Filak (Oneonta State; 2009 AA 3rd team), and Brian Rauh of Chapman.

In total, 12 of the 2010 D3baseball.com All-American honorees will be hitting the field for the Division III World Series, in what is sure to be a showcase of baseball talent.

(from d3baseball.com)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Baltimore Sun article about Coach Babb

As many of you know, our Baseball Blue Jays are currently ranked #1 in the Nation for Division III teams and on the road in Trenton, NJ for NCAA Regionals. This article was published in the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday, May 19th and we here at BJU have to agree....we think its the mustache too!

Babb has Johns Hopkins baseball playing razor-sharp

Blue Jays enter regional ranked No. 1 in Division III


Maybe it's the mustache. He had it 31 years ago, when he grabbed the baseball reins at Johns Hopkins. Now, nearly 900 victories later, there's still a trace of fuzz above coach Bob Babb's lip. And Hopkins keeps rolling along.

The Blue Jays (39-4), top-ranked in NCAA Division III, start their march toward the College World Series today at 1:15 p.m. against Moravian (Pa.) (26-13) in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Trenton, N.J. It's the 17th trip to the playoffs for Babb's team, which has never had a losing season under the 55-year-old coach.

Though the mustache seldom twitches, Babb's calm demeanor belies a ferocity within.

"His rule is: Act classy and respectful on the field, but play with a killer mentality," pitcher Sam Eagleson said.

It's a mind-set embraced by the players.

"He [Babb] is laid-back but intense in the sense that you know he wants to win every ... single ... game," outfielder Dave Kahn said. "With that attitude coming from the top, it's easy to play for him."

Babb, a Hopkins grad himself, has coached the Jays to 895 victories and could claim No.900 in the playoffs.

"Obviously, we have bigger goals than that right now," Babb said. One is to win the regional and return to the World Series, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament where Hopkins finished second in 2008 and third in 1989.

Babb said a national title is within reach of this year's Jays, who rose from a No.30 preseason ranking to the top of the polls. En route, they won 32 straight games — one shy of a school record — before losing the regular-season finale to Salisbury, which also made the playoffs.

"When these guys play well, they're as good as any team I've had," said Babb, whose winning percentage at Hopkins is a heady .742. "We've had faster teams and better starting pitchers, but never a bullpen this deep — or as much power from guys who hit for high average."

A World Series championship is all that has eluded the coach who calls himself "old school" and who doesn't own a cell phone. During games, he scribbles thoughts and strategies in a notepad, which he shares with the team.

"After every game, we get to see inside his head," second baseman Brian Youchak said. "How cool is that?"

Babb said his notebook also serves another purpose.

"On days when we're not scoring runs, I'll move the pad around — to the roof of the dugout, or in the helmet rack — until I find a place where we start to score," he said.

"Most players don't know that I do that, but my [assistant] coaches do. They think I'm an idiot."

Coincidentally, Hopkins leads the nation in runs scored, averaging 11.4 per game.

Also today, Salisbury (27-11), the No. 2 seed in the South Regional, plays LaGrange (Ga.) (25-18) at 2:30 p.m. in Fayetteville, N.C. It's the 11th straight postseason appearance for Salisbury, which reached the World Series in 2001 and 2004 but failed to make the finals. The Sea Gulls are ranked 17th nationally.

"This hasn't been one of our better years," said coach Doug Fleetwood, whose team won 38 games in 2009 and 41 the year before.

"A lot of people would be tickled with our record, but that's not the standard we set for ourselves. But we're here, where anybody can win it — so it might as well be us."