Despite a couple poor results on their trip to the Golden State this past weekend, the Georgetown men’s baseball team (19-11 overall, 3-3 Big East) strolled to a 9-1 victory against cross-town rival George Washington University (11-21, 5-4 Atlantic 10) on Tuesday in a showing of their potential on both sides of the diamond.
Conference play has been a mixed bag for an otherwise solid Hoya team. Georgetown began conference play in March with a series against Connecticut, winning the first game 5-2, but losing the second and third games 6-0 and 3-2, respectively. The Blue and Gray continued Big East play at Shirley Povich Field against the University of South Florida (18-13, 7-2 Big East) at the end of the month. Georgetown edged out a 1-0 win in the first game of the series, dropped the second 10-6, but finished strong by taking the series with a 7-2 win.
After finishing this run in conference, Georgetown travelled to Moraga, Calif. to begin play against the Gaels of Saint Mary’s College on April 5. St. Mary’s won the first two games 6-1 and 4-1, but Georgetown pulled it together for the rubber match, battling to a 7-6 win.
If any finesse or effort had been lost in the series against St. Mary’s, the Hoyas did not let it show against GW on Tuesday. Five different Georgetown pitchers held GW to two hits. Freshman pitcher Jordan Chudacoff stood out, picking up his second collegiate win while pitching five innings and allowing only one hit. Quality pitching on a consistent basis will be a necessity as the Hoyas progress in their Big East schedule, especially in their upcoming series against St. John’s.
“If you look at the standings, we’ve faced two of the better teams and our pitching numbers are damn good,” said Head Coach Pete Wilk.
Georgetown will take on the Red Storm April 12-14 at Shirley Povich Field. The Hoyas will come up against a St. John’s team who have underperformed this season. Wilk expressed similar sentiments on the upcoming conference games.
“They’ve consistently been one of the best programs in the conference for as long as I’ve been here … Looking at their numbers they don’t seem to be the typical St. John’s team, which would be strong pitching and strong defense and pretty good offense,” Wilk said. “Their pitching numbers are just so-so and their defense seems to be just kind of subpar right now. So hopefully we’re catching a younger team that’s still trying to fill out.”
With six players batting over .270, the offensive side for Georgetown has been more reliable than in past seasons. In several of their losses, the Hoyas have been just one key hit away from getting the necessary runs on the board. With the season well underway, Wilk expects some of the lesser performing bats in the lineup to heat up.
“We’re still getting going here, still plugging away at it. We’ve got some guys who are starting to get hot at the right time and that’s where I expect to see some improvement,” said Wilk. “There are guys out there that I think are better hitters than what we’ve put up so far, but that makes me more excited than anything else because I think they are going to come around.”
The team needs to improve their situational hitting in order to remain relevant in the Big East race, but with stable pitching the Hoyas have the opportunity to make a more successful run this spring than last.
