Georgetown’s baseball squad (20-20) has been making a statement all season with their improved play. However, last weekend, when they took on Big East rival Notre Dame (27-5), the Fighting Irish had a bigger impression to make upon the national canvas. The fourth ranked Irish entered their weekend series at Shirley Povich Field in Landover, md boasting one of the best offenses in the nation, averaging almost eight runs per game.
Eduardo Pena took the mound for the Hoyas in the first game and fell behind quickly in the second inning when Notre Dame’s sophomore left fielder, Steve Andres, hit a two-run homerun over the right field fence. The Hoyas had a chance to elude further damage but failed to turn a potential inning ending double play, which allowed another run to come across the plate. This pushed Notre Dame out to a 4-0 lead.
The Hoyas did answer back right away with two singles by Michael Lombardi and Andrew Cleary. Sophomore outfielder Timmy Jones played solid fundamental baseball by laying down a sacrifice to move runners up to second and third base. Matthew Johnson came through with clutch two-out single to cut the Hoya deficit to 4-1.
After Pena retired Notre Dame in the top of the third inning, the Hoyas struck again after a Notre Dame error with a two-run single by Cleary, bringing home Senior Ron Cano and Junior Billy Quinn. Then with two outs and the bases loaded, Johnson again came through with a critical single giving the Hoyas a 5-4 lead.
The Hoyas were able to extend the lead to 7-4 in the fourth when Quinn laced an RBI double to right field and Lombardi followed with an RBI single. That was when Notre Dame’s high-powered offense answered back. Seven runs in the fifth sparked the Irish an 11-7 advantage and the visitors never looked back winning the game 18-7. The Hoyas helped the Irish by making costly errors and walking four straight batters to aid the Notre Dame comeback that sealed the Game one win.
In game two of the Saturday double header, the Hoyas jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Quinn launched a homerun in the bottom of the first. Starting pitcher, Erick Chandler was able to hold off the Irish until Matt Bransfield hit a homerun to tie the game. Knotted at 3-3, the Hoyas again fell victim to Notre Dame’s power when the Irish put up five runs in fourth inning. The game ended 11-4 and capped off a disappointing day for the Hoyas.
Heading into the final game of the weekend series, Sophomore Stephen Burns took the mound and fought off the Notre Dame attack into the seventh inning. The Hoyas offense was spearheaded by Danny Gronski’s three RBI’s, which included a two run homerun in the bottom of the 4th inning. They Hoyas took a 5-4 lead and held on to the lead until the seventh inning just seven outs from a monumental victory. However, Notre Dame’s ability to score runs quickly, coupled with Georgetown’s inability to hold a lead, determined the outcome yet again.
After two walks in a row, Hoya reliever Thomas Braun came in to relieve Burns with one out and immediately struggled by hitting a batter to load up the bases. Braun then battled Notre Dame’s senior slugger Javi Sanchez and got him off balance for a weakly hit fly ball to right for the second out. Braun looked to preserve the lead, but wound up walking in the tying run. The next batter, second baseman Zack Sisko proved to be an able replacement for the injured Steve Sollmann, by hitting a grand slam to put the Irish up for good.
The Hoyas fought hard all weekend but were unable to come through in the critical moments against one of the best in the nation.
Georgetown defeated Coppin State 15-7 in a slugfest Tuesday night to improve to 21 wins and 23 losses while their April 22 game against Mount St. Mary’s was postponed.
