Graduation weekend is always a bittersweet experience – a time of celebration, a time of farewells and feelings of uncertainty. The upcoming weekend will be an especially ambiguous event for Georgetown baseball’s five seniors. While their classmates receive their degrees among friends and family, the quintet of four-year veterans will be some 200 miles away from Healy lawn, at Hawley Field in Morgantown, W.Va. for their final three games in the Blue and Gray.

For seniors Mike Hoy, Mark McLaughlin, Joseph Graziano, Brandon Davis, Derek deGrijs and Mark Dutmers, the three game series in organtown will be the final act of a disappointing season .

Buried in last place in the Big East and with no hope of reaching the conference tournament, Georgetown (20-32, 7-17 Big East) will be playing simply for pride this weekend against West Virginia (27-21, 8-15).

While the Hoyas may have doomed their chances at postseason play after dropping a crucial series last weekend to Villanova at Shirley Povich Field, they still have a shot at not finishing dead last in the conference. Seton Hall holds a three game lead in the race for second-to-last place.

Several seniors have led the charge as of late. McLaughlin, the hot-hitting center fielder from Walnut Creek, Calif., and Davis, the powerful catcher out of Poway, Calif., had three hits apiece in Wednesday’s 6-5 win over UMBC in Baltimore. The hard-throwing Dutmers helped secure the Georgetown’s lone victory over the Wildcats last weekend in the late innings, and third baseman Graziano and left fielder de Grijs each hit safely in the Hoyas’ home finale.

It has been a hard road for the five seniors on the Hilltop. The Hoyas were a combined 74-93 from 2004 to 2006.

Though the group has never reached postseason play, they have left their mark on Georgetown baseball. Following his transfer from the University of the Pacific in 2005, McLaughlin has been an integral part of Head Coach Pete Wilk’s system. He has been the team’s most productive hitter the past two seasons and will finish as the team’s leading base stealer in 2007 with 32 in 39 attempts. Davis has served as co-captain and is currently second on the team with six homers and 31 RBI. DeGrijs has been the ironman of the bunch, starting all 51 games for the Hoyas this season, and Graziano has battled back after enduring an injury-marred senior year. Dutmers has spent time in a starter’s role as well as the bullpen, and Hoy has been an effective reliever during his time at Georgetown.

Grappling for a spot in the conference tournament in Brooklyn, the Mountaineers figure to pose a steep challenge on the final weekend for the Hoyas. West Virginia is the Big East’s second-best hitting club, and senior left fielder Justin Jenkins is batting a whopping .389 and is the conference leader in hits with 79. Sophomore centerfielder Adam White isn’t far behind with 73 knocks and a .367 average at the plate. Senior southpaw Brendan Bergerson is the team ace, boasting a pristine 3-0 record and a 2.40 ERA. The big lefty from Michigan City, Ind., played for the Irish National Team at the European Championships in 2004 and has been a star during his time hurling for Head Coach Greg Van Zandt.

This weekend, the rhythms of “Pomp and Circumstance” will be replaced by the familiar sounds of the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd. Instead of cap and gowns, the five Georgetown seniors will don their “G” hats, tall socks and spikes one last time.

The series opens late Thursday evening, with games two and three scheduled for Friday and Saturday.