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

Reeling Hoyas Look To Make Big East Push

The hard road finally came to an end for the Hoyas.

Having played the last two weeks without two of their veteran players, Georgetown (10-22, 3-9 Big East) has slid into a seven-game losing streak. Senior co-captain Tommy Lee has been out for two weeks with an injury to his rib cage. Lee, who bats leadoff for the Hoyas, had a .327 batting average and .423 on-base percentage and was tied for the league lead in stolen bases with 15. He joined junior starting pitcher Alex Meyer on the disabled list. Meyer was one of the three core starters, in addition to senior Jimmy Saris and junior Tim Adleman, going into the season for the Hoyas.

In his stead has been freshman starting pitcher Will Harris, who took the mound last Thursday to kick off the Hoyas’ Easter weekend series against the University of South Florida (22-11, 10-2), which is tied for first place with West Virginia in the Big East. Harris (2-5) pitched five and one-third innings, striking out four, and allowed four earned runs in Georgetown’s 11-3 loss to USF.

It wasn’t that the Blue and Gray had trouble putting men on base, as they had 13 hits to top the Bulls’ 11. But 10 of those runners failed to cross home plate as Georgetown could not hit in the clutch. Junior shortstop Tom Elliott, freshman second baseman Andy Lentz and sophomore catcher Erick Fernandez combined to go 6-for-14 and scored three runs at the top of the order. Additionally, the Hoyas committed three errors which led to four unearned runs crossing the plate in the early innings. Senior outfielder Sean Baumann and sophomore third baseman Sean Lamont provided the run support with an RBI each.

On Friday, the Hoyas unleashed their power, scoring seven runs, but were outdone by the Bulls who belted six homers, a season high for the Hoya pitching staff, in a 10-7 loss. Redshirt sophomore first baseman Dan Capeless launched his third homer of the season and scored two runs. Lentz and fellow freshman outfielder Rand Ravnaas each drove in a pair of runs, with Lentz doubling in the second (his eighth of the season) and Ravnaas singling in the sixth to keep the Hoyas close. But Saris (2-4) was roughed up, giving up seven earned runs in three and one-third innings pitched. Sophomore relief pitcher Pablo Vincent had an impressive performance, going three innings, allowing just one run and striking out two.

Looking to take at least one game from the Green and Gold on Saturday, the Hoyas sent Adleman to the mound in search of his third win. Adleman was the winning pitcher in Georgetown’s last win on March 29 against St. John’s at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. Errors plagued the Hoyas for a second time in the series, as three errors led to four more unearned runs in the 7-2 loss. Capeless cracked a Hoya homer for the second game in a row, his fourth of the season and Fernandez added the other Hoya run with his fourth moon shot this year. Adleman had a good game, going five and one-third innings, allowing just two earned runs and striking out three. A surprising statistic was that the Blue and Gray pitching staff walked a season high 11 batters. On average, the Hoyas walk less than four batters each game.

And so the tough road ends for the Hoyas – sort of. Having faced the top four teams in the league, Georgetown will now travel north to Connecticut to face the Huskies, who are 6-6 in the Big East. Connecticut is similar to the Hoyas as a surprise team this year, with two wins apiece against USF and Seton Hall. While UConn’s offensive is on par with Georgetown’s – both teams are tied for fifth in the Big East with 31 homers – they rank fifth in the Big East in pitching. The top four are, in order, Louisville, USF, West Virginia and Seton Hall, whom the Hoyas play after UConn. Against the top three pitching staffs in the Big East, the Hoyas average four runs per game. The offense will have to knock in more runs and the pitching staff will have to have an above-average performance in this next series for the Hoyas to win some games.

Georgetown is currently 3-9 in the Big East and two games out of a playoff berth in the Big East conference. After this series, the Huskies will play St. John’s and Notre Dame, whom the Huskies are tied with, along with Seton Hall, for fifth in the Big East.

On the Hoyas upcoming series, and past ones, Lee diagnosed what has been plaguing his team.

“We didn’t pitch well or hit well,” he said. “That’s not a good formula for wins. Things will change. We have made the adjustments this week to come out and beat UConn.”

The Hoyas have shown they can hang in there against the big boys of the Big East. Now they will face teams more on their level. This next series could determine Georgetown’s place in the Big East conference championship.

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