The Georgetown University baseball team came closer than they ever had to the NCAA tournament and Big East conference championship last season.
On May 25, 2024, the Hoyas took an early lead into the third inning of the Big East championship game against the St. John’s University Red Storm. After allowing a late rally, however, St. John’s won 4-2, taking home the Big East pennant and heading to the NCAA regionals.
Entering his fifth year at the helm of the Hoyas, head coach Edwin Thompson has built a perennial Big East contender out of one of the historically least successful programs in major conference college baseball. In each of the past three seasons, the Hoyas have won 30 games and made the Big East tournament, but Georgetown still remains the only Big East team never to have made an NCAA tournament appearance. The Hoyas only made their first conference championship appearance in that game last year.
Opening the season with a three-game series at the reigning regular season Big South champion Presbyterian College Blue Hose (2-2), the Hoyas (2-2) dropped the opening two games of a doubleheader before picking up their first win of the season the following day.
The season opener was a back-and-forth affair.
Georgetown tied the game in the eighth inning off of first-year right fielder Dylan Larkins’ single down the third-base line and a subsequent Presbyterian error. However, the Blue Hose walked it off on a bases-loaded walk in the ninth, taking the game by a score of 7-6.
Georgetown’s starting pitcher, graduate transfer JT Raab, went 5 innings, striking out 3 and allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and a walk in his team debut.
Just a couple hours later, the teams returned to action, with the Hoyas jumping out to an early lead on senior catcher Owen Carapellotti’s RBI single up the middle. Senior Matthew Sapienza started and went 3 innings and conceded 2 runs, both earned, on 4 hits. Graduate Griffin O’Connor entered the game in the fourth and allowed 4 earned runs in that frame.
After an RBI single in the sixth, the Blue Hose led by 5. The Hoyas continued to fight, rallying in the seventh and scoring 4 runs via some station-to-station baseball, but could not get another run across to tie the game. Presbyterian clinched the series and swept the doubleheader with a 6-5 win.
In the final game of the series, Georgetown rode a shut-down performance from the bullpen to hold the Blue Hose at bay. After scoring in the second, Presbyterian did not cross home plate again.
In the fourth inning, the Hoyas took the lead on a two-run home run by sophomore second baseman Tristan Head. Head also recorded another RBI in the seventh on a single, leading the Hoyas to a 5-1 win.
Georgetown returned to action Feb. 18, playing the George Mason Patriots (1-3) in a game rescheduled due to the threat of inclement weather. The Hoyas chased out the Patriots starter after only a third of an inning, en route to batting around and putting up 6 runs in the first. They would add 6 more through the third for a 12-3 lead.
George Mason did find some offense, but the Georgetown lead seemed safe, with the Hoyas entering the bottom of the ninth leading 15-9. After racking up two RBI hits in the inning, the Patriots had the bases loaded with two outs. The Hoyas walked and then hit the next two George Mason batters respectively, and suddenly the lead was down to one. First-year pitcher Ethan Rucker entered and struck out the first batter he faced, Owen Clyne, for the save and a 15-14 win for the Hoyas.
Thompson, while disappointed to lose the Presbyterian series, understood that winning would not come instantly for a relatively young team without much experience playing together.
“We lost 75% of our at-bats and 60% of our innings. We’re a very young team and it’s going to take time for us to gel,” Thompson told The Hoya ahead of the matchup against George Mason. “One at-bat here and there and maybe we could have won all three games.”
Thompson also credited the leadership of returners, including graduate outfielder Kavi Caster and Carapellotti — both of whom were selected to the preseason all-Big East team — and the additions of experienced transfers, including Opening Day starter Raab.
Carapellotti, one of the few starters on the team who has played all four years for the Hoyas, recognized his role as a leader on a different team than last year’s Big East runner-ups.
“We don’t have the same kind of power production as last year,” Carapellotti told The Hoya. “I think we’re going to be very good at situational hitting and just putting the ball in play.”
This year, the Hoyas are set to visit some of the premier contenders in college baseball, including No. 2 University of Virginia and No. 9 Florida State University — both of whom reached the College World Series last year. They will host Big Ten contenders University Maryland and No. 11 University of Oregon in stand-alone games at Capital One Park as well.
Thompson said he hopes the tough schedule will bring more tournament consideration.
“Last year we were probably two games away from an at-large bid,” Thompson said. “We’re playing a very tough, national schedule this year.”
In addition, Carapellotti said the team believes they have unfinished business from last year’s Big East title game.
“Along with the other seniors, if you’re getting that close and then only having one more crack at it, it just fuels the fire,” Carapellotti said. “The big goal is the Big East championship, and then, once we get there, we move past that to Regionals.”
Speaking about lingering playoff memories after coming so close to the tournament last year, Thompson concurred with his star catcher.
“This year is this year and we want to win now,” Thompson said. “Obviously, we know we’re capable of winning, and we’re hungry.”
The Hoyas will host their first home games of the season against Sacred Heart University (0-3) in a three-game series at Capital One Park, beginning Feb. 21.
