Baseball Wins Ninth Straight, 6-2 Over Johns Hopkins

(box score)

Freshman Donovan Davis (Wallingford, PA) pitched the finest game of his young collegiate career and junior Matt Scherer (Havertown, PA) hit a two-run homer for Widener, which made it nine straight wins with a 6-2 triumph over Johns Hopkins.

Davis (1-0) was not to be denied on this day, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning by retiring the first 17 batters before issuing a walk. He lost the no-hitter later in the frame, but it did not damper the fact he notched a career-best seven strikeouts over seven innings. Davis permitted just two runs, two hits and two walks.

It marked the fifth straight game a starting pitcher for the Pride went at least six innings.

Widener grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second when senior Sam Christie (Upper Darby, PA) lined a two-run single up the middle. Senior Michael Riverso (Philadelphia, PA) then made it three 3-0 in the third by ripping an RBI single up the middle.

Riverso added a run-scoring groundout in the fifth to make it 4-0 before the Blue Jays began their charge. Craig Hoelzer made things interesting in the sixth when his two-run single to right field brought his club within 4-2.

Scherer widened the margin in the seventh when he blasted one to left field for his second home run of the season. His third career long ball extended his hitting streak to seven games.

Freshman Nick Donovan (Aston, PA) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings to get his first collegiate save, getting a strikeout and yielding just two hits and a walk. Freshman Justin Healey (Ocean City, NJ) rapped three hits, Christie had two and freshman Michael Elfreth (Washington Twp., NJ), today named Commonwealth Conference Athlete of the Week, extended his hitting streak to seven games.

Colin Friedman (2-1) allowed six runs – five earned – and eight hits over seven innings with two strikeouts for the Blue Jays (16-10), who fell out of the national rankings last week.

The Pride (20-9) reached 20 victories for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons and their winning streak is the team's longest since a 12-game run in 2008. The school record is a 17-game winning streak, accomplished in 1978.

Widener is on the road Wednesday at Neumann for a 4:00 pm first pitch in Aston, PA.

Print Friendly Version