There is something worthy to say about a non-scholarship program playing in a conference where every other team provides scholarships to its players. There is something admirable to say about a program that must travel to each home game because its campus field was replaced with pavement. There is something favorable to note about a program that doubled its league win total from the previous two years combined.

That something is dedication and that program is the Georgetown baseball team.

After winning a combined three Big East contests while losing 48 over the 1999 and 2000 seasons, the Hoyas persevered under difficult conditions to improve to 7-19 in 2001 and finish 10th out of 11 teams in the league. Their conference win total is the fourth best in school history and the Hoyas’ high water mark since 1997 when they won eight games.

In its first year playing at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, d., Georgetown ended the 2001 campaign with four more wins than a year ago at 17-39 overall. Fifteen of those wins came at home.

Consistently on the top step of the dugout, cheering every hit and supporting every run scored or error made, the Hoyas encouraged and pushed each other throughout Head Coach Peter Wilk’s second season at the helm. While the young players strove to improve their skills, the young coach, who previously served as a Georgetown assistant for two seasons, guided his team through a series of ups and downs that will build character for future Hoya squads.

Georgetown lost 14 games by three runs or less and six by one run, including an excruciating 2-1, 16 inning thriller to Cleveland St. on March 13, in what Wilk called “one of the best games” of which he has ever been a part.

Georgetown consistently failed to put their complete game together. Some days they would pitch well, some days they would field well, some days they would hit well. But very rarely did they fit all three facets of play into the necessary puzzle.

Yet, on those ever-increasing instances when they threw strikes, selected good pitches and turned routine double plays all during the same nine innings, the Hoyas achieved satisfying or even superior results.

Over the weekend of April 21 to 22, Georgetown completed its first three-game sweep of a Big East opponent since 1995, defeating the University of Connecticut 6-3, 5-2 and 4-2. Of the highlights, the most satisfying was the second victory over UConn pitcher Patrick Sperone, who taunted the Hoyas throughout the game.

Wilk attested to Sperone’s unsportsmanlike behavior.

“It was the worst display of sportsmanship I’ve seen at this level in 12 years,” Wilk said. “He was a jerk.”

Although the Hoyas scored 155 runs less than they allowed (306-461), a number of players had distinguished seasons both at the plate and on the mound, a tribute to a gritty work ethic and unbreakable resolve.

Offensively, sophomore left fielder Jason Boice, senior center fielder Jim Vankoski and senior right fielder Marc Carlini paced the Hoyas. Boice, the lead-off hitter, scored 50 runs, just nine shy of Georgetown’s all-time season record set in 1983, and led the Hoyas in hits (54), doubles (18) and total bases (85). He also tied for the team high in triples (2) and home runs (3) with Vankoski. Vankoski knocked in 32 runs on the season.

Carlini’s contribution, however, earned him a coaches’ selection to the All-Big East Third Team. Carlini ended his Georgetown career with a team-high .342 batting average and a 19-game hitting streak. He had 21 RBI and batted .381 against conference opponents, ranking him eighth in the Big East.

Carlini also had the game-winning, two-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Georgetown a 5-3 victory over Catholic University on April 25, one of the most dramatic wins of the season. During a post-game interview, his father dedicated the victory to Carlini’s grandmother, who had broken her pelvis earlier in the day.

Senior first baseman and tri-captain Eric Santana finished his career with a .289 batting average with a home run and 22 RBI in 51 games.

On the hill, freshman right-hander Kevin Field tallied 46 strikeouts and recorded three wins to tie Arizin, Vankoski and senior Randy Erwin for the most on the team. Field threw two complete games and had the team’s lone shutout, a 9-0 whitewashing of West Virginia on May 5, the Hoyas’ final win of the year and Georgetown’s first shutout in league play since 1996.

Junior Tony Pina notched five saves and won the Co-Big East Pitcher of the Week from April 16 to 22. During that stretch he threw 6 2/3 innings, allowed no runs on three hits, had five strikeouts and picked up a victory and two saves.

Next season, the Hoyas return a core of young players including Field; freshman catcher Michael Lombardi, who batted .301 in 46 starts; freshman center fielder Carlos Gazitua, who missed 34 games due to injury but still drove in 20 runs; freshman utility infielder Ron Cano, who scored 30 runs and sophomore Tony Lee, who started 27 of 41 games played.

Junior left-hander Eric Sutton, who started a team-high 12 games, junior second baseman Mike Green and sophomore second baseman Matt Carullo all return next season.

As a new class of freshman ballplayers enter Georgetown, the future appears full of promise for the Hoyas. With the 2001 season as a platform, Georgetown will catapult even higher up the ranks of the improved in 2002.