While most of the Georgetown student body travelled home or to exotic vacation destinations last week, the men’s baseball team took its annual trip to Florida for the Rollins College Baseball Week. The tournament was a huge success for the Hoyas, whose overall record of 4-2 earned them the title of co-champions.
Georgetown also had five players—junior first baseman Dan Capeless, senior shortstop Tom Elliott, sophomore designated hitter Rand Ravnaas, senior pitcher Tim Adleman, and sophomore starter Will Harris—named to the All-Tournament team.
The Hoyas started off the week strong with a 6-3 win against Rollins and a 13-11 victory over Penn, but faltered with consecutive losses to Maine and Penn in the following two games. Georgetown rallied in the final two games, defeating Maine 10-6 and Rollins 8-5. Their 4-2 record was tied with Maine’s for first place.
One of the main reasons for the Hoyas’ success in the tournament was strong pitching. Senior Tim Adleman and sophomore Will Harris in particular provided a strong foundation for Georgetown’s victories.
Tim Adleman finished the tournament with a stellar earned run average of 1.98 in his 13.2 innings pitched, the best mark among any pitcher that logged more than eight innings in the tournament.
In the opener versus Rollins, Adleman pitched 8.2 innings and allowed only three unearned runs on six hits, with one walk and a pair of strikeouts. In the team’s 10-6 victory over Maine later in the week, Adleman met a little more resistance in five innings pitched, allowing three earned runs on eight hits and striking out three batters.
Will Harris followed Adleman’s lead, also winning two games in the tournament. He started in the 13-11 win over Penn and struck out three during a five inning outing. In his next game, he threw 5.2 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits with two strikeouts to defeat Rollins 8-5.
This solid pitching performance led to success in other aspects of Georgetown’s game, especially fielding. Coach Pete Wilk previously said that it is important for his pitchers to stay ahead of batters so that his team can have success in the field. His team did just that in Florida, finishing the tournament leading in fielding percentage, committing only six errors and carrying a .976 fielding percentage.
Courtesy Sports Information
Georgetown also brought the lumber to match the strong pitching performances. Junior Dan Capeless and senior Tom Elliot led the Hoya offense.
Dan Capeless batted .381 all week, with three doubles, one triple, one home run, and six runs batted in. Capeless finished with a slugging percentage of .761 and hit a solo home run in a 10-6 win over Maine on Saturday. He and Elliot led the team in extra-base hits with five apiece.
Elliot batted .360 for the week and led the team in RBIs and runs scored with 7 each. He hit a two-run home run in the 6-3 win over Rollins on March 8. Elliot finished the tournament with two doubles, one triple, and two home runs.
Sophomore Rand Ravnaas proved to be another notable hitter for the Hoyas, finishing with a batting average of .400 in four games, hitting three doubles and one triple and scoring five runs. In the 13-11 win over Penn, he walked four times while hitting a double, a triple, and scoring three runs.
The Hoyas finished second overall in batting with an average of .308.
The Hoyas now stand with a record of 8-6 overall. They look to continue their Sunshine State success in a three game series against George Washington that will begin Friday at 3 p.m. at Shirley Povich Field.
