After opening the season with five tough losses, the Georgetown baseball team will look to a mix of senior leadership and first-year talent to improve its results.
For the second straight season, the Hoyas dropped their first two games to William and Mary, 11-0 and 5-4. Their subsequent losses proved much more competitive, as the Hoyas took an early lead in all three games.
In their second game against Wofford College, sophomore left fielder Ron Cano hit a grand slam in the top of the sixth inning to put Georgetown up 15-9, but the Hoyas later gave up eight runs to lose the game. Against Davidson, Georgetown was plagued by inconsistent pitching and fell 13-9, despite jumping out to a 5-0 lead at the top of the second.
“Right now we’re down because there are some games we should have won,” said first-year shortstop Matt Johnson. “Everyone is really pressing right now. We need to get that first win, and then the pressure will come off.”
The Hoyas will get their next chance at that first win this weekend, when they open their home season with a doubleheader against the University of Rhode Island on Feb. 23.
“For us to win, its going to have to start with pitching,” said senior pitcher and captain Eric Sutton. “If we come out and pitch well early, that sparks both our offense and our defense. We’re optimistic?the mistakes we’re making are things we can correct. It’s not like [the season] is out of our hands.”
Johnson believes many of the team’s troubles stem from the burden of the team’s past failures.
“We need to … go play for ourselves. We have a lot of potential,” said Johnson. “We could make it to the playoffs with our talent, but we come from a losing program recently and people have gotten into that mindset,” he said.
Georgetown’s most serious competition in the Big East will come from Notre Dame on March 30. The Fighting Irish are favored to win the conference this season.
In their favor, the Hoyas have the experience of senior co-captains Sutton, Mike Green and Phil Pierorazio and a wealth of young talent. In addition to Johnson, Georgetown will start first-year Billy Quinn on third base. Sophomores Cano and centerfield/shortstop Carlos Gazitua will also be expected to make major contributions to the team.
Sutton says the biggest challenge will be staying consistent, both mentally and on the field, throughout the season.
“Our motto is to stay together. It’s a pretty long season, so we don’t want to get too hyped up or too down on ourselves,” Sutton said.
