The Georgetown baseball team started last weekend on a good note with a 7-4 win over Louisville, but what looked like a promising series quickly turned sour.
The Hoyas could only eke out three hits over the next two games as the Cardinals ran away with 14-0 and 6-1 wins at Georgetown’s Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md.
With the losses, Georgetown fell to 14-19 and 2-7 in the Big East – second-to-last place. Though Louisville (14-17, 6-3) has a similar overall record to Georgetown, the Cardinals have played tougher non-conference teams.
Sophomore first baseman Jorge Castillo led the charge for the Cardinals during the second and third games, hitting 6-for-9 with nine RBI – and all nine runs scored on five singles and a sacrifice fly. Castillo earned a nomination to the Big East weekly honor roll for his dominant weekend, which included a career-high six RBI in Saturday’s game alone.
The storm clouds on Saturday, which delayed the game by four hours, were an ominous sign of what was to come for the Hoyas. While the Louisville offense racked up 16 hits in its 14-0 victory, the pitching staff held Georgetown to only two hits. Seniors center fielder Timmy Jones and third basemen Drew Dargen were the only Hoyas to get hits in the game, both singles.
The Cardinal pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts, led by senior starter B.J. Roseberg (4-3), who tallied six Ks over five innings.
Georgetown freshman Andy Ferich took his fourth straight loss, giving up four earned runs, four walks and three hits. He was taken out in the second inning after Louisville scored five runs before they made an out – though not all were earned because Dargen made a throwing error.
The three Hoya relievers combined to strike out nine, but they could not keep the Cardinal runs from scoring. Louisville had another big inning with four runs in the top of the seventh.
Georgetown managed to put one run on the board in its 6-1 loss on Sunday, but it only had one hit, too. Junior right fielder Mark cLaughlin got the lone hit, a single in the sixth inning, and he scored on Dargen’s sacrifice fly.
The Hoyas burned through their bullpen again on Sunday, needing five different pitchers to get through the game. Sophomore starter ichael Gaggioli remains winless on the year, now 0-5, after giving up four earned runs and seven hits in 4.2 innings.
Louisville starter Jake Smith evened his record at 1-1. He came out after giving up the single to McLaughlin in the sixth.
The first game of the series was a much different story for Georgetown, especially offensively. The Hoyas set the pace right away, scoring two runs in the first inning.
Louisville answered with two runs of its own in the third and another in the fourth, but Jones blasted a three-run homer to the left-center alley to put Georgetown back ahead, 5-3, in the fifth.
The Hoyas went on to win 7-4, with 11 hits to the Cardinals’ 10. Senior Warren Sizemore (3-2) lasted 7.1 innings in his start, a positive sign in his comeback from Tommy John surgery last year. He struck out five, but he did allow seven hits.
Georgetown students staying on campus during Easter Break can catch the Hoyas in action this weekend as they play host to the Seton Hall Pirates (10-19, 4-8), again at Shirley Povich Field. The teams face off in a Thursday doubleheader, starting at noon, and the rubber game begins on Saturday at noon.
