April 30, 2008

Box Score

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University baseball team split a doubleheader with Coppin State on Wednesday, losing the first game, 10-8, and winning the second contest, 14-2, at Shirley Povich Field. The Hoyas fought back from a six-run deficit to make things interesting late in game one and used a nine-run second inning to coast in game two. Sophomore Billy Concannon earned his first win as a Hoya and eight players recorded multi-hit games during the nightcap.

Game 1
Trailing 8-2 going into the top of the seventh inning, the Hoyas mounted a comeback that almost saw them draw even. With one out, junior Greg Pustizzi singled to left field and sophomore Tom Elliott was hit by a pitch. After a fielder's choice resulted in the second out, sophomore Chip Malt singled to right field to bring home one run, while an errant throw by the Coppin State rightfielder resulted in a second run crossing the plate. GU would then collect three-consecutive RBI doubles off the bats of senior Matt Harrigan, freshman Erick Fernandez and sophomore Dan Capeless to draw within a run at 8-7. However, needing a base-hit to the game, the Hoyas were unable to do so.

Coppin State would tack on a run to push the lead back to two runs before GU sliced the lead again. In the eighth, the Hoyas loaded the bases to start the inning on three infield singles, two of them being bunts. Sophomore Tommy Lee lifted a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 9-8 with one out and two runners still on base. After a wild pitch that moved both runners into scoring position, a strikeout put two outs on the board. Harrigan was then able to draw a walk to load the bases for a second time in the inning, but a pop-up ended the threat.

Georgetown received a lead-off double from Capeless in the ninth after Coppin State had gone ahead 10-8, but the Hoyas went down in order after the initial hit to end the ballgame.

The Hoyas fell behind initially, 3-0, but received RBI doubles from Malt and Harrigan in the third to cut the early run differential to 3-2.

Senior Erick Chandler allowed five earned runs in four and one-third innings and took the loss for the Blue and Gray. Freshman Dan Godefroi allowed one earned run over two and two-thirds of an inning while sophomore Cary Piligian ended the game with one earned run in two complete frames. The pitching wasn't helped out by the Hoya defense, which committed seven errors during the game.

Game 2
Trailing 2-1 in the second inning, the Hoyas were determined to not let the Eagles re-enact their performance from the previous game and scored nine runs to quickly put the contest out of reach. The first 10 Hoya batters in the inning all reached safely and in total, there were nine singles, one double and one walk. Malt, freshman Sean Lamont, and Lee all head two-run singles, while Harrigan had a RBI double and junior Sean Baumann drove in a run on a single before scoring on a wild pitch. When all was said and done, GU had built a 10-2 lead in the second inning.

Sophomore Billy Concannon earned his first win as a Hoya, throwing five complete innings and allowing only two earned runs. Classmate Jack Bender along with seniors Grady McConnell and Daniel Kennedy held the Eagles to one hit over the final four innings.

The Hoyas scored at least one run during the first five innings, tacking on single runs in the first, third, fourth and fifth. Capeless drove Malt home with a RBI single in the first and a Coppin State throwing error on a grounder from junior Kelly Muir plated Fernandez in the third. During the fourth inning, Malt grounded out but notched an RBI as senior Matt Maranges, who had doubled earlier in the inning, came homeward. Another Coppin State miscue resulted in a Hoya run in the fifth as a ball hit by Baumann was misplayed, allowing Capeless to score.

A third error-induced run would result in the Hoyas 14th and final run of the ball game during the eighth inning as a Fernandez grounder scored Godefroi

The Hoyas will host Louisville this weekend for a three-game series. The BIG EAST foes will play their first game on Friday night, May 2, at 7 p.m. from Shirley Povich Field