Dan Gelfand/The Hoya Junior shortstop Parker Brooks forces the out before Seton Hall junior infielder Anthony Seratelli can reach base. The Hoyas took two of three games in their weekend series against the Pirates.

In 2003, the Georgetown baseball team won its first Big East series on the last weekend of the season at Seton Hall.

This year, the Hoyas accomplished the feat two months earlier, again victimizing the Pirates by winning two of three games at Shirley Povich Field last weekend.

With Sunday’s victory, Georgetown (15-11, 2-1 Big East) surpassed last season’s win total and moved into first place in the conference.

“We keep playing good baseball,” Head Coach Pete Wilk said. “We had two out of three games that we pitched very well, and we played good defense two out of the three.”

“And it’s nice to have Billy Quinn back,” Wilk added.

Quinn, who missed almost a month with a leg injury, made a triumphant return to the lineup, driving in a combined five runs in his two starts.

The Hoyas won Saturday’s opener behind a strong performance by sophomore pitcher Warren Sizemore. Sizemore quickly recovered after allowing two early runs, keeping Seton Hall (3-13, 1-2 Big East) at bay while his teammates dug out a 3-2 win in eight innings.

The Pirates struck first, tagging Sizemore for two runs in the second inning. Seton Hall opened with two singles and a sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, Sizemore gave up a two-run single to Pirate third baseman Michael Young.

Seton Hall had two runners on again in the third, but after issuing his only walk of the game, Sizemore bore down. He worked out of the third inning jam, and gave up just two more hits in his 7.2 innings, adding seven strikeouts.

“I was very, very pleased with him, he was gutty as hell,” Wilk said. “He didn’t have much of a fastball, but he competed with his off-speed pitches and located extremely well. The sign of a real good pitcher is that, if he doesn’t have his great stuff, he still goes out, competes and wins.”

Georgetown scored its first run in the bottom of the third. Sophomore third baseman Danny Gronski led off with a single and advanced to second on a groundout. A wild pickoff throw sent Gronski to third, and he later scored on a single by freshman right fielder Derek DeGrijs.

The Hoyas tied the game in the fifth inning, when junior first baseman Jim Supple’s sacrifice fly scored sophomore shortstop att Johnson.

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the eighth, when Georgetown manufactured the winning run in its last at bat. Junior right fielder Andrew Cleary singled to lead things off, and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore center fielder Timmy Jones. Cleary went to third on a groundout by senior left fielder Ron Cano, and came home on Gronski’s single to left.

Freshman Trey Martin (2-1) earned the win in relief of Sizemore.

“We played small ball yesterday pretty well to help win that first game,” Wilk said. “The team’s deep enough that we’ve got 12 to 13 guys contributing to each win, and that’s the way it ought to be.”

Seton Hall struck back in the second game however, taking advantage of six walks en route to a 9-3 win. The Hoyas scored a run in each of the first three innings, but could manage just three hits thereafter.

The Pirates held a slim 4-3 lead, but broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning. Senior right fielder Matt Cuttruff led the Pirates offensively, hitting 3-for-5 with five RBIs.

Junior Travis Danysh (3-1) struggled with his control and took his first loss of the season. Danysh gave up four runs in just 3.2 innings, allowing three hits and three walks with two wild pitches.

Martin also had problems in his second appearance of the day, as he was on the mound during Seton Hall’s big fifth inning. Both pitchers were victimized by errors, as the Hoyas surrendered three unearned runs in the game.

Supple went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. Cleary, Quinn and Gronski each drove in a run.

The Hoyas rebounded with an impressive all-around effort Sunday, winning the rubber match, 7-3. Quinn’s three-run double in the fifth gave Georgetown a four-run lead that the pitching staff refused to give up.

Seton Hall had cut Georgetown’s lead to one in the top of the fifth, but Johnson and Gronski both singled with one out in the bottom half of the inning. After junior second baseman Parker Brooks grounded out, sophomore first baseman Drew Dargen was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Quinn. Quinn pulled a grounder over third base that rolled to the wall, clearing the bases for a two-out, three-run double.

The pitchers did the rest. Freshman Erick Chandler was poised in just his second collegiate start, using a tight slider to strike out six in six innings. Chandler (2-2) allowed just three runs on five hits for the win.

Juniors Eddie Pena and Thomas Braun combined for three scoreless innings to preserve the win.

Seton Hall briefly led 2-1, but Georgetown took the lead in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. Gronski, Quinn and senior catcher Mike Lombardi each had a run-scoring single.

While the Hoyas left 12 men on base in the game, they made a number of clutch hits that had been lacking in the past several games.

“It’s something we’ve been struggling with all year,” Wilk said. “We got it done this weekend, and that’s why we won two games.”

Georgetown play host to Navy today at Shirley Povich Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.