FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Sophomore RHP Trevor Williams racked up nine strikeouts in seven scoreless innings, to earn his first win of the season, in an 8-0 shutout victory for No. 18 Johns Hopkins against Fredonia State on Monday afternoon.
It didn’t take long for the Hopkins bats to warm up on a breezy day at the Player Development Complex, as the team finished with 11 hits and six RBI in its first shutout of the season. Shortstop Conor Reynolds finished 4-for-5 at the plate, becoming the first freshman since Gary Rosenberg in 2003 to record four hits in a game. The Blue Jays improve to 7-2 on the year, while Fredonia drops to 4-4 on the season.
Hopkins began building its lead in the bottom of the third inning, after junior Jake Rogers drew a bases-loaded walk to score senior John Maxwell from third. In the fourth, Reynolds led the inning off with his first career triple, and scored on a grounder put in play by sophomore Pete Siciliano to give the Jays a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Jays batted through the order in the bottom of the fifth as Reynolds and sophomore Kyle Gillen both posted RBI to help their team go up 5-0. The Blue Devils could not find their way around Williams at the plate throughout the game, and managed only three hits and seven total baserunners on the day.
Gillen and Reynolds combined for another pair of RBI again in the bottom of the eighth as Hopkins added three insurance runs on three hits. Junior Justin Drechsel was lights out in his fourth relief appearance of the season, striking out the final five batters he faced to lock down the victory for Hopkins.
