Every spring break, college students all over the country flock to sunny Florida. Last week those students were joined by the Georgetown baseball team.
The Blue and Gray traveled to Winter Park, Fla., to play in Rollins College Baseball Week, and after winning five out of the nine games they played against Maine, the University of Pennsylvania and Rollins, the Hoyas left the Sunshine State with a 10-7 record on the season. A large part of the Hoyas’ success in Florida was due to junior outfielder Rand Ravnaas, who might be wielding the hottest bat in the Big East. Over the nine games, Ravnaas drove in 13 runs with a batting average of .361; he currently leads the Big East in slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, RBI, homeruns, total bases and steals.
Georgetown came out on fire in its first game, routing Maine, 15-3. Junior right-handed pitcher Will Harris threw seven strong innings, giving up only one earned run. Perhaps the most exciting moment of the game came in the third inning when senior third baseman Sean Lamont hit his second homer of the year, a two-run shot that tied the school record for career homeruns.
The Georgetown bats stayed hot the following day against UPenn, nearly doubling up the Quakers, 11-6. A three-RBI performance from Ravnaas and almost five solid innings of relief from the bullpen propelled Georgetown to the win.
After taking the first two games of the week, the Hoyas hit a rough patch, dropping a tough contest to Rollins, 8-6, before UPenn extracted a measure of revenge with a 9-5 win over Georgetown.
But the Hoyas stopped the skid quickly, avenging their previous loss to Rollins with a 12-2 victory on Wednesday. Ravnaas and redshirt senior first baseman Dan Capeless each homered in support of right-handed starter Alex Baker. Baker, a freshman, gave up two hits in five innings and was rewarded with his second win of the season.
The Blue and Gray were unable to start another winning streak, though, and dropped their next two games. First the Quakers shut out the Hoyas, 4-0, in the two teams’ third matchup of the tournament, and although the bats got back on track against Maine in the next game, the Black Bear offense roughed up the Georgetown pitching staff in a 10-5 Maine win.
The Hoyas prevented the losing streak from getting out of hand with a win in their penultimate game in Florida, their fourth against Penn. Redshirt senior left-handed pitcher Alex Meyer stifled the Quakers and turned in the Hoyas’ most impressive pitching performance of the week, giving up only one run over eight innings in his second win of the year. Offensively, Ravnaas and senior catcher Erick Fernandez led Georgetown with two runs apiece.
The Hoyas’ last game of the week was against Penn as well, and they capped off their week in Florida on a high note. A four-run first inning opened the scoring for Georgetown, thanks to a two-run single from Lamont and an RBI groundout from Fernandez. Redshirt sophomore shortstop Mike Garza plated another run in the second with a single to center, and the Hoyas had a 5-0 lead after two innings. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Charles Steinman threw six innings and gave up two runs (one earned). A shaky seventh inning from senior right-handed pitcher Pablo Vinent saw Penn cut the deficit to 5-4, but Vinent recovered to pitch a scoreless eighth frame. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Neal Dennison secured his third save of the year and the win with a perfect ninth inning.
