March 30, 2007

Box Score

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University baseball team won their first BIG EAST game of the season, as they defeated Cincinnati, 8-2 on Friday afternoon at Shirley Povich Field. Georgetown (11-15, 1-3 BE) used a five-run first inning to set the tone as the Hoyas would win their first game ever against the Bearcats (13-12, 1-3 BE) in BIG EAST play.

Senior Mark McLaughlin (Walnut Creek, Calif./De La Salle) walked to start the game and senior Derek deGrijs (Nashville, Tenn./Goodpasture) reached on an error by the Cincinnati third basemen Josh Harrison. Junior Matthew Bouchard (East Greenwich, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) was the third batter of the inning and hit a single to center field that put GU ahead, 1-0.

After senior Brandon Davis (Poway, Calif./The Bishop's School) was hit by a pitch, junior Matt Iannetta (Providence, R.I./St. Raphael Academy) lifted a fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly RBI. After a strikeout, freshman Joe Silvestri (Floral Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) singled to right field to make it 3-0, in favor of the Hoyas.

Cincinnati starter Steve Blevins then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Davis to score and make it 4-0. Finally, junior Matthew Maranges (Miami, Fla./Belen Jesuit Prep) doubled down the right field line for the final tally of the inning, one of his three hits of the day.

In the fifth, Davis delivered his third homerun of the season, a deep drive over the left-center wall that made it 6-1. The Hoyas would then score two more times, once in the seventh to go up 7-2, and once more in the eighth for the final score.

In the seventh innings, Iannetta doubled and sophomore Rob Begin (Princeton, N.J./Princeton) pinch-ran for GU. Begin would come around to score on a throw-away error by Cincinnati's catcher Ryan Baker. In the eighth, McLaughlin singled, stole second, and was brought home on a RBI single by Bouchard.

Junior Erick Chandler (Somerset, N.J./Rutgers Prep) went 6 2/3 innings to earn his first win of the season. Chandler allowed two runs on eight hits, while striking out six Bearcats batters. Freshman Jack Bender (Cranford, N.J./Cranford) earned the save for the Hoyas when he threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball in relief.

Georgetown plays Cincinnati tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. at Shirley Povich Field. It is game two of a three-game series between the BIG EAST schools.