The 17th-ranked Case Western Reserve University baseball team took a tie game into the bottom of the seventh against top-ranked Johns Hopkins University, but three late runs for the Blue Jays resulted in a 7-4 win in the first game of the best-of-three Super-Region series of the NCAA Division III Championships at Babb Field in Baltimore on Friday afternoon.

The Spartans, who saw an eight-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 30-13-1 overall, will now need to win two games tomorrow against the Blue Jays to avoid elimination from the tournament. Johns Hopkins improved to 43-3 overall and has now won 25 consecutive games.

The Blue Jays took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a three-run home run from Caleb Cyr, but sophomore left-handed pitcher Quinn Saunders was able to hold Johns Hopkins scoreless over the next two innings, and the Spartans would break through in the fourth. Three straight one-out singles from senior right fielder Nick Harms, graduate student first baseman Dane Camphausen, and graduate student second baseman Franco Alonso produced the first run of the game, and sophomore designated hitter Tyler Stillson followed with a double to plate Camphausen and cut the Blue Jays' lead to a run. The next batter, junior center fielder Matt Trout, singled to right center field, allowing both Alonso and Stillson to score and giving the Spartans their first lead of the game, 4-3.

Johns Hopkins evened the score in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Alex Shane that chased Saunders from the game with two on and one out, but first-year right-handed pitcher Oliver Miller put out the fire, getting a groundout and a strikeout to end the fourth with the game knotted at 4-4.

Miller pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth inning and left the game in the bottom of the seventh with two on and nobody out, giving way to sophomore right-handed pitcher Zach Barnes. Barnes struck out the next two batters, but a double from Jacob Harris plated the two runners and gave the Blue Jays the lead back, 6-4. A solo home run in the bottom of the eighth by Dylan Whitney extended the Johns Hopkins lead to three runs, and the Spartans would get the tying run to the plate with two outs in the top of the ninth, but could not score as the Blue Jays picked up the game-one win.

The Spartans finished the game with eight hits, including a two-for-four day at the plate with two doubles, a run, and an RBI from Stillson.

Miller suffered the loss for the Spartans, dropping to 3-2 on the season, while Kieren Collins pitched a complete-game win for the Blue Jays, improving to 9-1

The Spartans and the Blue Jays will continue their Super Regional on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Links to follow Saturday's games are available at https://athletics.case.edu/news/2025/5/20/-17-cwru-baseball-super-regional-preview.aspx

Spartan Notes

• The Spartans have now scored 408 runs this season and are just one away from matching the program record of 409 runs set by the 2011 squad.

• The Spartans, who are making their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance all-time, stand at 18-15 in tournament play.