The Georgetown baseball team dropped two games of a three game set to Seton Hall this past weekend in South Orange, NJ in the unsuccessful battle to stay out of the Big East cellar. The losses dropped the Hoyas to 19-19 overall, with a 4-9 record in the Big East, tying them with the Pirates for last place.
In the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, Georgetown dropped a close 4-3 contest after jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. In the top of the first, junior outfielder Timmy Jones singled up the middle, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and eventually scored on an error by Seton Hall starting pitcher Dan Merklinger. Georgetown added another run in the fourth on a deep homerun shot driven over the left-field fence by outfielder Billy Quinn and a run in the sixth on an RBI single off the bat of designated hitter Ryan Craft.
The homerun by Quinn was the eighth of the year for the senior captain, tying him with Craft for the team lead. His 37 RBI from the cleanup spot are also the highest for the Hoyas.
“Quinn has been a force in our lineup since he was a freshman, so what he’s doing is not a surprise,” Head Coach Pete Wilk said. “At times he tried to carry the team on his own, which is impossible, but if he takes care of his business the rest will follow.”
Following Quinn’s blast, Seton Hall roared back in their half of the sixth, scoring all four of their runs on three hits. Junior Patrick Sullivan singled to the left side, first baseman Tim Pahuta was hit by a pitch and first-year Mark Pappas reached on an error by shortstop Matt Johnson. With the bases loaded, sophomore John Walsh drove in two runs with a solid single down the leftfield line. Pappas later scored on a wild pitch, and the game-winning run came in on a single to left-center field off the bat of shortstop Michael Young.
Georgetown was unable to put anything together in their half of the seventh and wasted another great pitching performance from first-year Michael Gaggioli, who went five and one-third innings, giving up only five hits and two earned runs as his record fell to 3-3.
However, in game two, Georgetown did not waste senior right-hander Eddie Pena’s outstanding effort on the hill, giving him six runs of support to back up his solid performance. In the first, Jones tripled to deep left field, coming across on a wild pitch. The Hoyas then added two more runs on three hits in the fourth, as sophomore Mark McLaughlin launched a one-out liner to the right-center field gap and ended up scoring on a bunt single by Ryan Craft. Craft himself eventually scored a run on a single up the middle by Jim Supple.
Georgetown added one more run in each of the fifth, sixth, and ninth innings, which was more than enough for Pena, who earned his second win of the year by throwing eight innings, giving up two earned runs and striking out eight.
“I think I am getting spoiled with Pena and Gaggioli,” Wilk said. “These two guys have given us quality starts in most, if not all, of their appearances and it was good to finally see Eddie get a ‘W’ for his efforts. We should have won Mike’s game too, but we just couldn’t finish it off for him.”
In game two, senior reliever Tom Braun came on for the save in the ninth and successfully shut the door on the Pirates. The save was Braun’s fifth of the year, but more importantly, it was the 12th of his career, making him Georgetown’s all-time saves leader.
“I was thrilled for Tommy Braun to get the saves record,” Wilk said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked of him during his career and has been a great teammate.”
The final game of the series was not much of a contest, as Seton Hall won handily by a margin of 13-3. The Pirates scored two quick runs in the first on a home run to left by Pappas and added a third on a RBI double by first-year catcher Matt Skopak. Seton Hall pushed across three more runs in the fourth, highlighted by another two-RBI double by Skopak.
The Pirates’ bats just kept on rolling in the middle innings, as Seton Hall homered in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings with two bombs off the bat of John Walsh and one in the sixth courtesy of first-year Dan McDonald.
Pitcher Jake Haggerty improved to 3-5 after throwing seven and one-third innings of six-hit ball, giving up only three earned runs and striking out seven. Georgetown starter Mike Halloran only lasted three innings, giving up four runs on five hits and dropping his record to 5-2.
Georgetown looks to get back on track in the Big East with a three-game set in Chestnut Hill this weekend against the Eagles of Boston College. Game one is set for 12 p.m. on Saturday.
