On Wednesday, the Georgetown Hoyas baseball team (1-6, Big East) earned a much needed 14-4 victory over crosstown rival George Washington (3-4, Atlantic-10) in Arlington, VA. The game was closely played for the first four innings before the Hoyas busted it open. It was a day of broken streaks, as Georgetown’s six-game losing streak ended while George Washington’s three-game winning streak was snapped. Freshman right fielder Michael Willis, playing his first collegiate game, and senior right-handed pitcher Jack Cushing, making his first start of the season, shined in the Hoyas’ complete win.
Cushing turned in easily the best performance of the year from a Georgetown pitcher. The Texas native completed seven innings and allowed just two earned runs on five hits. Despite only striking out four, Cushing pitched well to contact, inducing nine flyouts and eight groundouts.
The Hoyas jumped on Colonials senior left-hander Pat Knight right off the bat. Graduate student outfielder Kyle Ruedisili drew a walk to open the contest, stole second, and came around to score when sophomore catcher Ryan P. Davis reached on a fielding error. In the bottom half, however, the Colonials responded. Junior shortstop Nate Fassnacht led off the inning with a double into the right-center gap. Fassnacht advanced to third on a grounder to shortstop, then scored on a grounder to third to tie the game at 1-1.
Knight and Cushing each cruised through their second innings, but the Hoyas took back the lead in the top of the third. Georgetown once again took advantage of poor fielding by GW, as Ruedisili reached on a fielding error by redshirt freshman first baseman Derek Ripp. Ripp also made the error in the first inning that allowed Ruedisili to score. In the next at-bat, junior center fielder Ryan M. Davis tripled down the right field line to drive home Ruedisili. Sophomore shortstop Eddie McCabe then hit a grounder to third, though Davis was gunned down at home.
In the bottom half, however, the Colonials rallied again. After giving up a single to freshman center fielder Cade Fergus, Cushing committed a costly balk, moving Fergus into scoring position. Junior third baseman Steve Barmakian then drove home Fergus to tie the game, but that was the last time that George Washington would score off of Cushing.
A half inning later, Georgetown reclaimed the lead and would not give it up again for the rest of the game. With two outs, Willis singled to right field and came home on the next at-bat when sophomore third baseman Yareb Martinez doubled to right. After Cushing tossed a one-two-three bottom half, the Hoyas came right back and scored three more in the fifth. Junior right-hander Cal Stalzer entered the game for George Washington and allowed four consecutive Hoya batters to reach base either by walk or base hit, including Ryan P. Davis, who drove in Ryan M. Davis with a double to right-center. Stalzer was then pulled for junior right-hander Andrew Wheeler, who fared no better. Wheeler surrendered a two-run single to senior second baseman Ryan Weisenberg, giving the Hoyas some breathing room and a 6-2 lead. Cushing continued to cruise, retiring nine of the last 10 batters that he faced.
In the top of the eighth, the game turned into a full-on blowout, as Georgetown tacked on eight more runs against three different pitchers. It all started with back-to-back doubles by Ruedisili and Ryan M. Davis, and back-to-back walks drawn by McCabe and Ryan P. Davis. Weisenberg drove home Ryan M. Davis with a sacrifice fly to left, and after junior first baseman Freddy Achecar III walked to load the bases, Willis came to the plate for the fifth time on the day. In a fitting end to his collegiate debut, Willis ripped a single to left, scoring two, capping a perfect four-for-four day with a walk. Following a Martinez walk, Ruedisili doubled for the second time in the inning and Ryan M. Davis singled up the middle. Two runs scored on each of Ruedisili and Davis’ hits, and the score was 14-2 entering the bottom of the eighth.
Sophomore left-hander Jacob Grzebinski and freshman left-hander Angelo Tonas pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, for the Hoyas. Though two George Washington runners crossed the plate in the ninth, it didn’t matter.
Ruedisili, Ryan M. Davis, and Weisenberg each had solid days at the plate in addition to Willis. Ruedisili had two doubles, two walks, and four runs scored, Davis had three base hits and was just a homer short of the cycle, and Weisenberg drove in three runs.
Over the weekend, the Hoyas will look to build on Wednesday’s game when they travel to Deland, FL to participate in the Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational. There, they will face off with Sacred Heart (2-3, Northeast), Stetson (1-6, Atlantic Sun), and St. Louis (3-4, Atlantic 10). The Hoyas already played Sacred Heart opening weekend, dropping a heartbreaker 6-5. The Blue & Gray will look to avenge that loss on Friday at 1:00 p.m. ET. For continued coverage of Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
