Just as Capital One Park, the home of the Georgetown University baseball team, is still an active construction site, the Hoyas too are a work in progress.
The Georgetown Hoyas (3-5) dropped two out of three games in their first home series of the season against the Sacred Heart University Pioneers (2-4), as pitching production continues to be an issue.
In the first game on Feb. 21, the Hoyas dominated the Pioneers en route to a 13-1 win. Georgetown opened the scoring in the first, scratching 4 runs across on only 1 hit courtesy of 2 walks, an error and RBIs on a fielder’s choice and groundout.
The Hoyas continued to pour it on, adding 4 more in the second via station-to-station baseball. Despite tallying 13 in the run column, Georgetown only notched two extra-base hits in the game — triples by junior third baseman Jeremy Sheffield and graduate left fielder Kavi Caster.
Sacred Heart scored once — on a sacrifice fly in the second — but was unable to get anything going at the plate otherwise.
Graduate right-handed pitcher JT Raab started and picked up the win in 6 strong innings, allowing 1 earned run and collecting 7 strikeouts. Junior right-hander Kai Leckszas pitched the final three frames, allowing just 1 hit and no runs, claiming his first save of the season.
The next day’s game was the polar opposite. The Hoyas’ pitching collapsed after a solid start, and Sacred Heart won 21-4.
Georgetown jumped out to an early lead with 3 runs in the first inning, two of which came courtesy of graduate first baseman Noah Leib’s double.
The Pioneers responded, scoring 2 in the second and taking the lead on a two-RBI double in the fourth, chasing out Hoyas senior right-hander Matthew Sapienza after 3 and 1/3 innings.
Sacred Heart did not truly pull away, however, until a sixth inning grand slam by shortstop Gavin Donohue.
The Hoyas used 8 pitchers to get across the finish line and were powerless in stopping the Pioneer’s assault in the batter’s box. Sacred Heart scored in every inning after the third, while Georgetown only managed a lone consolation run.
Looking for a response in the rubber match, the Hoyas took the lead in the middle innings but could not hold on, as the Pioneers took the game 6-3 and the series 2-1.
Senior left-handed pitcher Andrew Williams started shakily for Georgetown, conceding 2 runs in a rough first inning, but found the zone over the next two innings.
First-year outfielder Jackson Thomas plated the Hoyas’ first run of the game on a hard-hit single to left field. He advanced to third on a two-base throwing error as well, but the Hoyas could not rally to bring him home.
Trailing 2-1 entering the sixth, Caster climbed the outfield wall to rob Sacred Heart infielder Dave Yorke of a home run. Taking advantage of the momentum, senior catcher Owen Carapellotti golfed a change-up at his knees over the right field wall for a go-ahead two-run home run.
Georgetown turned to graduate left-handed pitcher Axel Johnson to preserve the lead, but he quickly allowed two baserunners before Sacred Heart infielder Peter Link drove the ball out to deep center for a three-run home run. Johnson recorded the loss and a blown save on 1 IP and 3 ER.
Link gave the Pioneers an insurance run in the ninth as well on an RBI single after an error prolonged the inning, but the run proved unnecessary as the Hoyas were shut down by Sacred Heart’s reliever PJ Hogan, a rare ambidextrous pitcher.
In a mid-week standalone contest Feb. 25, Georgetown made the short trip to face the George Washington University Revolutionaries (3-4). The Hoyas took a large lead into the eighth inning, but the bullpen again crumbled, leading to a 7-8 loss.
After conceding 2 early runs to the Revolutionaries, Caster and junior first baseman Luke Bauer responded for the Hoyas with back-to-back RBI doubles. Georgetown added five more in the sixth and the seventh, entering the final two innings with a 7-2 lead.
George Washington rallied in the eighth. After a leadoff single, third baseman Ty Acker homered to the right power alley. The rally continued until the Revolutionaries took a one-run lead, which they would hold as the Hoyas went three up, three down in the ninth inning.
Georgetown Head Coach Edwin Thompson said he viewed the series as an opportunity for the team’s younger players to develop.
“You take away a lot of growth. Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of experience,” Thompson told The Hoya. “I like how we responded after a tough game yesterday. We didn’t lay down, we didn’t quit.”
Thompson said he continued to have faith in his bullpen despite his pitchers giving up 28 runs in relief in their last 3 games.
“I’m always confident in our guys. It’s early in the year,” Thompson said. “We gotta figure out who’s in the right spots.”
Georgetown next travels to Tallahassee for a challenging three-game series against the No. 7 Florida State University Seminoles (8-0) this weekend.
