Phoenix, Ariz. - March 17, 2009 - The Springfield College baseball team battled with last season's NCAA Division III National Runner Up, Johns Hopkins, through six innings, until the Blue Jays used a seven-run seventh inning to take down the Pride, 13-2.The Pride jumped on the board in the bottom of the first inning with the game's first run. The Blue Jays answered with two runs in the top of the third, but Springfield battled back to tie the game at two in the sixth.
However, several costly errors in the seventh frame proved to be the difference as Johns Hopkins exploded for seven runs. JHU would score another four runs in the eighth inning to secure the victory after holding Springfield scoreless after the sixth inning.
Drew Michael went 1-1 in the game with a triple and drew three walks at the plate. Karl Quist went 3-4 for the Pride with a pair of doubles, while Mario Piscitelli and John Schmaltz drove in both of Springfield's runs.
Travis Turgeon started for the Pride and lasted three innings, allowing two earned runs off four hits while walking three. Adam DeFelice suffered the loss in 3.2 innings on the mound, giving up five runs, two earned, off six hits. Teddy Kusiak pitched the final 2.1 innings, giving up six runs, five earned, while allowing seven hits.
Former Springfield College standout Mark Simeone will enter his 17th season as the head baseball coach at his alma mater in 2013 . The reigning NEWMAC Coach of the year is coming off a successful 2012 campaign in which the Pride went 20-15. Read more.