FOXBOROUGH, Mass. --- I asked Hopkins offensive coordinator Bobby Benson yesterday if his flight to Boston went better than his last encounter with an airplane.

He laughed a bit nervously, and who can blame him? After all, he and coach Dave Pietramala had a midair adventure on the six-seat plane they took back from Ithaca after scouting Duke in last weekend's quarterfinals.

"It was interesting to say the least," Pietramala said.

Interesting probably doesn't cover the front door to the plane flying open at 3,000 feet, with Petro's jacket quickly slipping out. He then asked Benson if he should get up and try to close the door; Benson wisely urged him to remained buckled up.

Upon landing, the Hopkins coaches opted to rent a car and drive back to Baltimore.

"We made it. We made it. We made it," Pietramala said. "it wasn't our time. Thank God Benson went to church that morning. At least somebody did."

As a postscript to this tale, Hopkins SID Ernie Larossa said this morning someone must have tipped off one of the attendants on the Blue Jays' charter to Boston about the harrowing experience. Pietramala was asked multiple times on the way if he was all right.

He'll be great if Hopkins can spring an upset today. But given what happened on Sunday, he'll probably be OK for a while.

--- Patrick Stevens