Hoya Staff Writer The Hoya catching duo of Lombardi and Cleary are a force to be reckoned with in the Big East this year.

RELATED LINK Same Roster, New Team Feb. 10, 2004

During the Florida Marlins’ surprising World Series run in 2003, Ivan Rodriguez showed the world how important a catcher is to a baseball team. Rodriguez dominated in every aspect of the game during the playoffs with timely hitting, stellar defense, veteran leadership and the confident handling of a young pitching staff.

Catching requires a unique blend of mental toughness and physical stamina. Like all hitters, catchers must study the tendencies of opposing pitchers, but they must also learn how to handle opposing batters, and know exactly what their own pitchers want to do, are capable of doing, and should do at every point in the game.

Catchers also have to keep an eye on the base runner while catching a 90 mile-per-hour fastball, or blocking a curveball in the dirt, all while squatting for hours at a time and getting battered by foul balls, wild pitches and the occasional base runner.

It is hard enough to find a catcher who combines all of these skills. Finding one who is also an excellent hitter is like hitting the jackpot. Finding two catchers that combine the offensive, defensive and mental skills to take over a game? Nearly impossible.

Unless you look at the Georgetown baseball team, where senior ike Lombardi and junior Andrew Cleary form one of the strongest catching tandems in college baseball.

Their numbers speak for themselves. Lombardi, a switch-hitter, has a career batting average of .328, including a career-high .374 in 2003. Cleary, who transferred from Stanford after the 2002 season, hit .338 and paced the Hoyas with 12 homers and 47 RBIs. For his efforts, Cleary was named to the All-Big East Second Team in 2003. Lombardi was named to the Third Team.

“If you’re going to play at this level, you’ve got to have two guys to catch,” Head Coach Pete Wilk said. “They certainly can catch with pretty much anybody.”

In order to get both of their bats in the lineup, Wilk played Cleary in left field most of last season. When Cleary started behind the plate, Lombardi moved to designated hitter. The arrangement worked last season and will be used again, largely because the team does not miss a beat, both offensively and defensively, no matter who is behind the plate.

“Mike is a tad bit better defensively, and I like the way the team plays when he’s behind the plate,” Wilk said. “But Andrew has come a long way as a catcher, he caught some of our best games last year. He has a tremendous ability to call games, and is probably the smartest baseball player we have.”

Both players face an additional challenge by having to handle what is still a young pitching staff. Yet they embrace this challenge, and recognize the important role they play in pitchers’ development.

“I kind of act as their guardian angel in a way, because what may have flown pretty well in high school at a lower caliber is not going to fly here,” Lombardi explained. “If they get frustrated, that’s my job, to go out there and calm them down. I try to keep them mentally tough throughout the game, that’s what I really want them to do.”

Cleary learned the finer points of catching from former Boston Red Sox All-Star Rich Gedman– his high school coach.

“He taught me to be a smarter baseball player and a better catcher, especially dealing with pitchers,” Cleary said.

Given how involved they are in every aspect of the game, it comes as no surprise then that many catchers develop into leaders. This year, Wilk named Lombardi the team’s sole captain.

“I think it’s a pretty loud statement,” Wilk said. “I think he’s a tremendous leader.”

Lombardi embraces the leadership role. He was the captain of his high school team at St. Anthony’s, and was the Hoyas’ co-captain last season.

“Everything’s for the team, the good of the whole,” Lombardi said. “That’s a quality that my parents instilled in me when I was a young kid, so it’s just come up in everything I’ve done in my life. It gets to a point where you don’t even think about it, you just do it for others.”

“I’m definitely more of an `actions speak louder than words’ type of guy,” he added. “I tried the motivation-by-screaming approach my freshman year. And it didn’t work. I gained a lot of respect only through what I did, which told me that I had to start leading by example.”

Lombardi’s play certainly does the talking for him. He hit .301 in his freshman year and started 51 of 56 games en route to being named the team’s rookie of the year. Lombardi followed up with a strong sophomore showing in 2002 that earned him team MVP honors.

Last season was Lombardi’s best, however. He hit .374, improved as a run producer and notched 34 RBIs while hitting .344 with runners in scoring position. He also threw out 30 percent of would-be base stealers.

His success has granted him the opportunity to play in some of the most prestigious summer leagues. He spent 2002 playing in the Cape Cod League, but his biggest thrill was spending this past summer with the Keene Swamp Bats, who won the New England Collegiate Baseball League championship.

“It was awesome,” Lombardi said. “Keene is the best team I’ve ever played for in my life. I caught the championship game, which was awesome. I was at the bottom of the dog pile. And we get rings.”

“Summer baseball has been amazing,” he added. “You can’t not think about the competition, because these are kids who are going to the top-dog schools, and that raises your level of game.”

Cleary also has plenty of experience facing off against the best that collegiate baseball has to offer. In his freshman year at Stanford, Cleary reached the College World Series, where the Cardinal finished in third place.

“You get treated like a big league baseball player there,” Cleary said. “Every time you get off the bus there’s hundreds of kids waiting for you. When you’re not playing baseball you’re just signing stuff.”

Cleary appeared in just six games at Stanford, and when he decided to transfer he chose Georgetown over Vanderbilt and William and Mary.

“When I came here last year, people were always asking me how we did it [at Stanford], and I’d tell them we did it this way, but this program’s not far off,” Cleary said. “We do things good here, and we’ve got some talent.”

Cleary quickly established himself as one of the premier power hitters in the conference last season, finishing second in homeruns (12), third in slugging percentage (.656), sixth in RBIs, and ninth in on-base percentage (.460). Based on his strong performance in 2003, Big East coaches named him to the Preseason All-Big East team this season.

“Personally, I was really excited,” Cleary said. “A lot of Georgetown players don’t get the recognition they deserve, but it could have been Mike, it could have been me, it could have been Billy Quinn, it could’ve been anybody. I hope that it just shows that, one, the league is recognizing that our players are actually at the level of everyone else, and two, that we’re going to start to move up in the ranks.”

After having caught for years, Cleary spent more time in left field than behind the plate last season and figures to do the same this year. Regardless of where he plays, Cleary still considers himself a catcher.

“I’d personally rather have a catcher’s mindset at all positions on the field,” he said. “I think it’s harder for me to keep a left fielder’s mindset.”

Cleary’s versatility is an advantage for the team. Wilk can now get both of his bats in the same lineup, and can also give Lombardi some much-needed rest.

“Before Andrew got here, before we took the field, I used to say a small prayer that Lombardi wouldn’t get hurt,” Wilk said. “He had more strength in his legs by the end of the year, which obviously translates into better catching and better hitting.”

“Freshman year I was able to catch 50 games because I was 18 years old, but I’m a little older now,” Lombardi said. “I still want to catch every game, but obviously I know my limitations.”

Cleary’s willingness to play different positions for the good of the team displays the teamwork qualities that good catchers seem to share. Junior Chris Burling, who has essentially been the team’s third-string catcher, is a perfect example.

“Chris is the guy,” Cleary said.

This sentiment is shared by the whole team, which voted Burling as the “Most Valuable Teammate” last year. Burling had just three at bats all season, but played an integral role on the team.

“He’s a tremendous asset to both Andrew and Michael in that they don’t have to go down and catch in practice as much as they would because they’ve got Burls down there,” Wilk explained. “Burls makes our pitchers better, makes our team better, and he’s just that type of kid that’s unselfish.”

“He does the grunt work,” Cleary added. “He’ll catch every bullpen, every day if you want him to and he never complains. Every team should have someone like him.”

Lombardi and Cleary face a unique situation for Georgetown baseball players, in that both may have the opportunity to play professionally. No Georgetown player has been drafted by a major league team since the 1980s. Both players hope, and believe, that they will be able to break the trend.

“I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t get a chance to play baseball professionally, and I think I’ll get to have that opportunity,” Cleary said. “Most kids when they leave here, they work in a job for two or three years before finding what they really want to do. When you’re playing professional baseball, you know after two or three years of you can make it to the big leagues. I wouldn’t mind trying for a few years to see how it works out.”

“There’s a possibility of it happening, and I welcome it, I embrace it,” Lombardi said. “All I need is for professional coaches and organizations to see what type of person I am, to see how hard I work, to just be there when I play successfully, and I know I’m going to go to the top. I really believe that.”

Never one to take all the credit, Lombardi believes that fulfilling his dream would be a team effort.

“As a program, I think it would be the culmination of everyone’s hard work going into trying to make this program successful.” Lombardi said. “All the coaches have put their blood, sweat and tears into this, and all the players have put their blood, sweat and tears into this. If I can play professional baseball coming from a school like Georgetown, then the possibilities are endless.”