A baseball game can be won or lost in just an inning or two. The Georgetown baseball team (9-41, 2-20 Big East) lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Connecticut Huskies (23-17, 11-7 Big East) on Saturday in Storrs, Conn., largely as result of one poor inning in each game.
In the fourth inning of Georgetown s 15-1 loss in Saturday s first game, Connecticut erupted for 11 runs. In the second game of the day, Connecticut used a five run fifth inning to roll to a 15-7 victory.
The Hoyas’ day started well as freshman Eddie Pena (0-7) retired six of the first seven Huskies to step to the plate in the first game. Pena has had a trial by fire as a starter against some of the best teams in the Big East. His 8.10 ERA and his record do not reflect many of the solid innings he has given his club this season.
“Pena threw well, we just fell apart defensively,” Head Coach Pete Wilk said.
In the third inning Hoya freshman third baseman Bill Quinn gave the Hoyas a 1-0 lead. Quinn came up with two on and two out in the inning and doubled freshman infielder James Supple home.
An excellent hitter for average all season (team-leading .337 batting average), Quinn has recently added power to his repertoire at the plate. The freshman hit his first home run last week against ount Saint Mary’s and showed his ability to get extra-base hits again on Saturday.
Pena took this one-run lead into the bottom of the fourth but would be back in the dugout before the inning ended. He lost his control and surrendered seven runs on six hits, three wild pitches and one hit batsmen.
The most trying aspect of the inning for Pena and his teammates was that all the damage came with two outs. Pena was clearly rattled by an error by Quinn on a play that could have ended the inning.
After the error, Pena threw three consecutive wild pitches. He then allowed another RBI single to Huskie sophomore catcher Mike Leonard, the last batter he would face.
Senior Tony Pina replaced the young starter. Pina was unable to stop the barrage of Huskie runs. The senior reliever failed to get the third out as he surrendered another four runs on four hits.
Pina was then replaced by freshman Travis Danysh who finally ended the damage by inducing a groundout. When the smoke cleared Connecticut had sent 14 men to the plate and scored 11 runs on 10 hits. Hoya pitchers hit one Husky and threw four wild pitches.
Under ideal circumstances it would have been difficult for Georgetown to rebound from an inning like the fourth. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, Connecticut junior lefthander Jesse Carlson provided staunch resistance to any rally attempts. Quinn’s RBI was one of only four hits and one run Carlson surrendered all day.
This season has been something of a coming-out party for Carlson whose 2001 statistics were respectable (2-5, 5.38 era). However his 2002 campaign has been impressive in comparison. He has pitched to a 6-2 record and a 3.48 era.
Carlson went the distance and shut down the Hoyas for seven full innings. His stamina in Saturday’s game was consistent with his performance all season. He has averaged 5.19 innings per start.
Carlson pitched a strong game behind an offense that gave him a 10 run lead. This sort of production is typical of a team whose entire starting lineup hits above .295.
“They are an excellent hitting team,” Wilk said. “They got a lot of ground balls through the hole.”
The Connecticut offense was paced by senior centerfielder Cy Hess. Hess went 2-5 in the game to extend his hitting streak to 25 games and raise his batting average and on-base percentage to .389 and .492 respectively. Both averages rank fourth in the Big East.
Junior Sean Cox came in to pitch for the Hoyas in the eighth inning and had success against the Husky offense. Connecticut was only able to bring one run across in the frame as Cox gave Georgetown only his sixth inning of work this season.
Connecticut equaled its offensive output from the first game in Saturday’s second contest, again putting up 15 runs.
Senior Eric Sutton (4-8, 5.44 era) surrendered seven of Connecticut’s 15 runs in the game s first four innings. The normally dependable Sutton has struggled of late, losing his last five starts.
“Sutton had some tough starts. He’s pitched more innings this year (68.1) than he ever has,” Wilk said.
Sutton s outing ended when he put two Huskies on in the fifth. Junior Pat Salvitti came in with no one out to attempt to end the inning.
But Salvitti could not find the strike zone. The reliever hit the first three batters he faced and then threw three consecutive wild pitches to allow three runs.
Freshman Michael Halloran got the Hoyas out of the inning, but five runs had already crossed the plate. Georgetown was behind 10-5.
This deficit proved insurmountable for a Hoya offense despite the success it enjoyed against Connecticut senior Pat Sperone (4-4, 5.89 era).
Senior Mike Green continued his hot hitting for Georgetown with a 4-5 day at the plate. The senior infielder got over the .300 mark with his 5-8 Saturday.
Green and Supple provided the offense to keep Georgetown in the game late Saturday. The Hoyas tied the game at two in the third and again at five in the fifth, but were never able to take the lead.
“Whenever we got the momentum we needed, we gave it back,” Wilk said.
In addition to consistency, Connecticut showed its explosiveness in two big innings that knocked the wind out of a Georgetown squad that refused to stop battling. The Hoyas played well for 14 innings. There were only two where the team lost its focus. Unfortunately, these two innings cost Georgetown two more games this season.