The top-ranked and top-seeded Johns Hopkins baseball team fell to sixth-ranked Lynchburg, 7-6, in the decisive game of the 2023 NCAA Division III Baseball World Series at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday afternoon.
The Blue Jays rallied in the eighth inning but came up short when the potential tying run was thrown out at the plate following a bases loaded single to center by Dylan Whitney. The hit scored one run, but Lucas Geer was cut down at home on a throw by Lynchburg centerfielder Carrson Atkins.
Hopkins finished the season as the national runner-up for the second time in the program's history—they also finished second in 2008—and ended the year with a 48-8 record, the most wins in school history.
After dropping the opening game of the best-of-three series on Wednesday afternoon, JHU forced a the winner-take-all finale with an 11-6 win in the second game earlier Thursday.
The Blue Jays pushed across four runs in the top of the first to grab a quick 4-0 lead, getting an RBI triple from Dillon Souvignier and a two-run home run from Caleb Cyr.
But the Hornets (48-9) chipped away with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and two more in the bottom of the second. Hopkins briefly retook the lead on Sam Frank's solo homer in the fifth, but Lynchburg scored three times in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 7-5.
