After breaking an eight game Big East losing streak on Sunday against Cincinnati, the Georgetown baseball team faced off against non-conference opponent University of Virginia on Tuesday evening. The Hoyas fell 9-1 against the 16th ranked Cavaliers.
“Obviously the outcome wasn’t what we would like, but it was a good experience, especially for the younger guys, to play in that atmosphere and a nice ballpark like Virginia’s,” senior second baseman Matt Maranges said.
The Hoyas went into the game knowing they were up against a tough team, but their focus was simple: playing their game and taking advantage of the experience.
“I wanted them to be exposed to that level of baseball,” Head Coach Pete Wilk said. “Obviously yes, they’re better than us. On paper there is an enormous gap, but on the field, with our team and our talent level, there’s not that big a gap. And I wanted to show the kids that and I think they came away from last night recognizing that.”
Virginia scored one run in the first inning off a RBI double from leftfielder Dan Grovatt, then pulled their lead out to six in the second inning. With bases loaded, third baseman Tyler Cannon hit a double to bring in all three runners. Second baseman David Adams followed up with a two run homerun.
The Hoyas attempted to jump-start their offense, but despite making contact with the ball multiple times, they ran into trouble against the Cavalier defense, which caught the Hoyas in three double plays.
“If you get into a double play it really takes the wind out of your sails, and we did that three times,” Wilk said.
The Hoyas’ lone run came in the top of the seventh. With one out, and senior catcher Matt Iannetta and senior leftfielder Matt Harrigan on second and third, junior rightfielder Kelly Muir hit a ground out to bring in Harrison. At bat next, junior Greg Putizzi, the designated hitter, fell victim to the Cavalier defense as he grounded out to end the inning.
“They made some quality defensive plays,” Wilk said. “They’re a solid, solid, solid defensive team and we are not consistently solid enough. We made four errors and they didn’t make any. They made several exceptional plays, we made one exceptional play.”
Georgetown used six pitchers throughout the game. Weekend matches, which are usually Big East games, are the team’s top priority. During weekday contests the objective is to give their go-to pitchers some relief and allow the others some experience on the mound.
The team has two weeks of regular season play left and two more series against Big East teams. The Hoyas head to Pittsburgh this Friday for three games against the Panthers.
“I think this weekend is a good opportunity for us to do some more in the Big East,” Maranges said. “Our last two weekends are a good chance for us to end on a good note and just keep playing good baseball and having good at bats and the results will show up.”
