Coming off a three-game sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates, Georgetown’s baseball team dropped a 12-4 decision to Mt. St. Mary’s, falling to 17-20 for the year.
The Hoyas, who claimed an 11-2 victory when visiting the Mount earlier this year, squandered an early 3-1 lead at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md.
“We let down a little bit this week,” said Hoya junior outfielder Mark McLaughlin. “Last week we brought an intensity to our series against Seton Hall that hasn’t been there these last few games.”
Georgetown’s offense was lead by seniors Timmy Jones and Ryan Craft, the respective 2 and 3 hitters in the lineup. Jones, the centerfielder, scored two runs and batted in a run, while going two for four on the day. First baseman Craft posted three hits in his five at-bats.
However, the Hoyas could not keep up their early pace and were eventually overpowered by the Mt. St. Mary’s (14-17) sluggers. Heading into the fifth inning trailing 3-2, the Mountaineers erupted for six runs, triggered by a three-run homer from first baseman Josh Vittek. Georgetown was forced to pull sophomore starting pitcher Grady McConnell in favor of the lefty junior Mark Dutmers.
Mt. St. Mary’s head coach Scott Thomson was pleased with the Mount’s offensive outburst, “We have been waiting for our bats to wake up all year. Hopefully, we can keep things rolling off the next couple of weeks down the stretch.”
The Hoyas mustered only one run after Mt. St. Mary’s built themselves an 8-3 lead, and failed to score after loading the bases in the seventh. The Mount secured the win with three meaningless runs in the top of the ninth and claimed a resounding 12-4 victory over the Hoyas in non-conference play.
Satisfied with his pitching staff’s performance, Thomson said, “Our pitching was solid. Once we got out of the first inning I thought our guys did a pretty good job of getting ahead of the batters early in the count.”
Georgetown continued their streak of hard luck losing to D.C. foe George Washington 8-3 last night. The loss drops the squad to 17-21 overall as they head into a three-game Big East series at Cincinnati.
