Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

GU Christens Citi Field With Comeback Win

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Georgetown lines up during pregame festivities at Citi Field. The Hoyas beat St. John’s 6-4 in the contest.

It has been 12 years – that is, 1997, for those of you who are not math majors – since Georgetown won a series against St. John’s – until this past weekend, when the Hoyas beat the Johnnies (13-9, 4-2) on Saturday and Sunday to reach the .500 mark in the Big East.

“Today’s win is going to send ripples everywhere around us,” co-captain and senior center fielder Tommy Lee said on Sunday, after Georgetown (10-15, 3-3) won the first game ever played at Citi Field, the brand new home of the New York Mets, beating St. John’s 6-4.

However, when the Hoyas started their three-game stretch with the Red Storm on Friday, no one would have predicted the Hoyas to be the victors of the series by Sunday afternoon. Friday’s game was the first of two consecutive home games for the Hoyas before they traveled to New York.

St. John’s limited the Hoyas to just two runs in a 7-2 win. Sophomore catcher Erick Fernandez, who leads the team with a .391 batting average and a .466 on-base percentage, hit his second home run of the season in what was otherwise a tough Big East game for the Hoyas, who suffered their fourth consecutive loss. Freshman starting pitcher Will Harris struggled against a St. John’s potent offense, giving up seven earned runs over five and one-third innings.

Then came the bad weather on Saturday morning. While all signs pointed to another rainy day for the Blue and Gray after the game was pushed up to a 10:40 a.m. starting time, Georgetown thundered out one of their best all-around games this season. Georgetown scored 10 runs for the seventh time this season with a season-high five home runs by four different players. Senior outfielder Sean Baumann connected for two dingers on a 3-for-3 day, with three runs scored and 2 RBIs, continuing his hot streak at the plate. Fernandez, junior shortstop Tom Elliott and redshirt sophomore first baseman Dan Capeless also homered for the Hoyas. Elliott was 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and an RBI and was one double shy of hitting for the cycle.

However, the best performance of the game came from senior starting pitcher Jimmy Saris (2-2), who went seven innings, giving up just three runs and striking out five Red Storm batters, including pre-season All-American sophomore third baseman Greg Hopkins twice.

It was a big starting-pitching performance for the Hoyas, an area that has been lacking all season. After losing junior pitcher Alex Meyer to an injury earlier this season, Saris and junior pitcher Tim Adleman had to shoulder more of the load and struggled. Since then, Georgetown has been searching for a consistent performance from its starting pitchers, and Saturday’s performance was a big step.

But it was an even bigger task for Adleman when he took the field not in Maryland, but at

Citi Field in Queens, just minutes away from the St. John’s campus, where 22,397 fans took to the seats despite the rainy weather that kept many more away. It was the seventh-largest crowd ever to watch an NCAA Division 1 baseball game.

The crowd was not biased toward either team, with most people present simply to see the new stadium. But Georgetown was not there for the glamour: They were there for the win and the series. So Adleman took the mound to throw the first pitch, excluding former Met great John Franco’s ceremonial first pitch, and gave the Blue and Gray more than they ever have hoped for.

Elliott would get the first hit in the new stadium in the bottom of the first with a single to left field. A shaky third inning for Georgetown gave St. John’s three runs, two of them unearned after an error, shifting the score 3-1. In the bottom of the inning, sophomore third baseman Sean Lamont stepped to the plate with two outs and sent a pitch flying into the left-field stands for the first home run in the stadium’s history and Lamont’s ninth of the season, second-best in the Big East.

“We were focused throughout the series, and even in the bright lights of the stadium, we kept it together,” Lamont said.

Down 3-2, Adleman stepped up big time, giving up just one more run over the next five innings. Adleman (2-3) finished the game with eight innings pitched and just two earned runs, his best outing of the season.

“With Jimmy and Timmy’s performances this weekend, the team was allowed to really settle in to our defense and allow us to gain some momentum on offense,” Lee said. “They kept the other team’s offense off balance, and that was not even with having their best stuff, so believe me when I say they can be even better. They are our rock.”

Adleman secured his second win of the season after a four-run seventh inning put the Hoyas ahead for good. Down 4-2, Lee led off with his team-leading eighth double of the season, and Elliott followed with a single. After a wild pitch, Fernandez tied the game with a two-run single. Later, an RBI single by Capeless and a wild pitch gave Georgetown a 6-4 lead, enough for Adleman and junior pitcher Jack Bender to close out the game.

“The team’s inexperience took some work to overcome in the beginning of the season, but the senior leadership on the team has made the young guys much better baseball players,” Lee said. “The young guys have had to learn quickly and have responded. Now they are getting experience from a team with a new mentality.”

Georgetown will play George Mason at home tomorrow at 3 p.m. before heading down to West Virginia to play the Mountaineers, who are the new Big East leaders with a 5-1 record. However, after winning a game at Louisville and winning the series against St. John’s, the Hoyas are no longer strangers to playing in tough situations against very good teams.

“Wins in the Big East are becoming expected,” Lee said.

But nobody ever expected the Hoyas, who christened the Mets’ new ballpark with a come-from-behind victory, to become the answer to a future Citi Field trivia question. It is always good to be the underdog.

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