Georgetown baseball lost its seventh straight game Wednesday in Annapolis, Md., as the Navy Midshipmen rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to steal a 7-6 win from the Hoyas.

The loss dropped Georgetown’s record to 6-16 overall, with a 1-8 mark in Big East play.

The Hoyas entered the bottom of the ninth leading 6-5, but managed to get just one out in the inning. Sophomore Michael Halloran started the inning and gave up a single, followed by a wild pitch that allowed the runner to advance to second. After a sacrifice bunt, Navy tied the game on a double by Pete Curnow. Two pitches later, Chris Asinhurst singled to right field and Curnow scored from second to win it for the Midshipmen.

Sophomore pitcher Eddie Pena made his sixth start for Georgetown and pitched six effective innings, giving up four runs on seven hits while striking out a season-high nine batters. Pena was in line for his first win of the season until Navy came back to tie the game in the seventh inning.

“I’m bleeding for Eddie,” Head Coach Pete Wilk said. “He pitched great, he has pitched great, and has nothing to show for it.”

The game was close from the beginning. Pena got off to a shaky start, giving up a two-run homer to stake the Midshipmen to an early lead.

Georgetown responded quickly. Sophomore Andrew Cleary gave the Hoyas their first run of the day in the top of the second inning, sending a solo home run to left-center field. Cleary continues to provide power to Georgetown’s lineup, and he currently leads the team in homers (5) and runs batted in (19).

The Hoyas took the lead in the following inning. Sophomore Ron Cano tripled to start the inning and scored on freshman Timmy Jones’ home run to center. Jones’ second blast of the season put Georgetown up, 3-2.

“He’s been swinging the bat fairly well,” Wilk said of Jones. “I’ve been happy with his play as a freshman.”

Georgetown extended its lead in the fourth. Cleary drew a walk with one out and advanced after freshman Ryan Craft singled. Cleary was picked off, but Craft smartly moved to second base on the play. Cano, who had two RBI and a stolen base in the game, drove in Craft with a single. Pena gave up a solo home run in the bottom of the inning that brought Navy within one run, 4-3.

The Hoyas added a run with a two-out rally in the fifth. After a double play, sophomore Billy Quinn singled to keep the inning alive and moved to second base on junior Michael Lombardi’s single to right field. Senior Rob O’Hare singled to score Quinn and extend Georgetown’s lead. Navy manufactured a run with a single, a groundout, a steal and a single to cut Georgetown’s lead to 5-4.

Wilk replaced Pena with junior Kevin Field in the bottom of the seventh inning. Two singles and a sacrifice bunt quickly put two Navy runners in scoring position. Freshman Danny Gronski made a fine play at third base, throwing out Navy’s Trevor Thompson at home as he tried to score from third on a groundball. A single brought in one run, and the inning ended with the teams tied.

Georgetown regained the lead in the top of the eighth, but failed to take full advantage of the possibility for a big inning. A double to deep left field by O’Hare put runners at second at third for Cleary. Remembering his second-inning homer, Navy chose to intentionally walk Cleary to load the bases with none out.

After Craft struck out, Cano brought one run in with an RBI groundout that gave the Hoyas runners at the corners with two outs. Navy escaped the inning without more damage, however, as Jones struck out swinging.

The inability to score more than once with the bases loaded in the eighth proved costly, as the Hoyas were held scoreless in their final at bat, setting up Navy for its dramatic ninth-inning comeback.

“That’s what changed the tide of the game,” Wilk noted. “A good, experienced team takes advantage of that situation and scores more than once. I think our youth reared its ugly head in that case.”

Georgetown faces a difficult stretch in its schedule, as the team matches up against both Virginia Tech and Rutgers, teams Wilk said are two of the best in the conference. Next week the Hoyas play away games at Maryland and George Washington.

“It’s a tough stretch for us, the hardest of the year by far,” Wilk said. “If we can limp through this we’ll be fine. That’s why [Wednesday’s] game was so important, we wanted to break up the string of ‘L’s. But we’ll get back on our feet.”

Georgetown travels to Blacksburg, Va. for a doubleheader with Virginia Tech on Friday beginning at noon. Freshman Steven Burns (0-0, 5.87 earned run average) makes his first start in the opening game, while sophomore Travis Danysh (0-3, 6.20 ERA) will start the second game.