The recent snow has done more than threaten to cancel class for the Georgetown baseball team. The Hoyas were out at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md., on Friday and Saturday, shoveling snow off the field themselves so they would be able to squeeze in two games against Lafayette on Sunday.
“We spent 13 hours hand-shoveling that field to play the doubleheader,” Wilk said. “It was a hell of a project.”
The doubleheader, Georgetown’s home opener, came at a tough time for the Hoyas. Besides having to shovel the field all weekend, the team had not been able to practice since Tuesday.
“Hitting is timing, and when your timing has been affected by a few days off, it’s going to take a little while to get back on it,” Wilk said.
Although the Hoyas (3-4) outhit the Leopards (1-1) 5-4 in Sunday’s first match, Lafayette was able to come away with the 3-0 win in its first game of the year.
Lafayette junior righthanded pitcher Matt Revelle (1-0) led the effort as he pitched a complete game shutout with five strikeouts and just one walk.
All of Lafayette’s runs came in a fourth inning rally. Senior left fielder Rob Fioretti, who went 2-for-4 on the game, and junior shortstop Ian Law set the table with a single and walk, respectively.
Senior first baseman Adam Bucci followed with an infield hit to load the bases. Sophomore designated hitter Benvenuto struck out swinging, but sophomore third baseman Frank Cortazar came through with a single to right field, scoring Fioretti and Law.
Cortazar was then out on catcher Matt Skellan’s fielder’s choice, but Skellan made up for it with a stolen base. Freshman right fielder Tom Hayes reached first and Bucci scored on Georgetown’s only error of the day, made by sophomore third baseman Joseph Graziano. Hayes stole second, but freshman second baseman Tyler Zeronda grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.
Georgetown senior righthander Eddie Pena (0-1) took his first loss after giving up two earned runs and three walks with six Ks in seven innings of work.
The Hoyas made up for their lack of scoring in the second game of the doubleheader, earning a 9-6 win.
Lafayette had built a lead in the fourth inning again, picking up four runs. With its second-inning run, the Leopards were up 5-0 going into the fifth inning, when the Hoyas finally got out of its offensive funk and broke open the scoring.
“We made some adjustments and started trying to use the whole field instead of pulling the ball, and it started to pay off in the second game,” Wilk said.
Georgetown went on a six-run tear in the fifth, with all nine batters appearing at the plate.
Junior third baseman Danny Gronski led things off with a walk and advanced to third on junior shortstop Matt Johnson’s double. Lafayette sophomore righty Brian Cope, the starting pitcher, hit sophomore catcher Brandon Davis with a pitch, juicing the bases. Senior second baseman Parker Brooks then stroked a double to left center field, scoring Gronski and Johnson.
Sophomore left fielder Mark McLaughlin’s back-to-back double, the third of the inning, brought Davis and Brooks home. cLaughlin’s hitting led the Hoyas as he went 3-for-5 on the game.
“It seems like every time we’re doing something, Brooks and McLaughlin are in the middle of it,” Wilk said. “They got some big hits.”
Senior first baseman Jim Supple grounded out, the first out of the inning, but senior right fielder Bill Quinn kept the rally alive with a two-RBI home run, his second of the year, giving Georgetown a 6-5 lead. Quinn earned Big East Player of the Week honors for scoring four runs and drving in two runs as well as his .429 on-base percentage over the last game against Davidson and the Lafayette doubleheader.
The Leopards threatened in the eighth, evening the score on sophomore catcher Dave Drecshel’s two-out RBI single, but the Hoyas wrapped up the game in the ninth off Craft’s walk-off three-run homer.
Junior Warren Sizemore (1-0), who finished the last one-third of the ninth inning, earned the win. Junior Stephen Burns started the game for Georgetown, pitching for four innings and giving up four earned runs, five hits and one walk with no strikeouts.
Sophomore lefthander John Fugett (0-1) took the loss for Lafayette after giving up the game-winning home run.
Over spring break Georgetown’s baseball team heads to Bradenton and Fort Myers, Fla., for a week of games.
“We’ve got three or four teams that we’re really going to have to play excellent baseball to beat – which we can. We’ve got a couple of teams which we should beat, and we’ve got one or two teams that are along the same skill lines as us that we’re probably on par with, and that’s how you typically try to draw up a spring trip,” Wilk said. “We’re going to try to come back as a better team.”
