May 11, 2006

Washington, D.C - The Georgetown University baseball team hosts Rutgers in a key three-game BIG EAST Conference weekend series. The first game at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md. is slated for Friday, May 12 at 7 p.m. The teams will square off on Saturday, May 13 at 7 p.m. before the series finale on Sunday, May 14 at 1 p.m.

Georgetown (23-27, 9-12 BE) currently stands in eighth place in the league standings with six games to go. Rutgers (24-22-1, 10-11 BE) is one full game ahead of the Hoyas. Both teams have two series remaining. The teams face off this weekend before Georgetown heads to Pittsburgh next weekend while Rutgers travels to Connecticut.

Seven BIG EAST teams, Cincinnati (11-10), Louisville (11-10), West Virginia (10-11), Rutgers (10-11), Georgetown (9-12) USF (9-12) and Villanova (8-12) are separated by just two games in the battle for five remaining playoff spots.

Only Notre Dame and UConn have clinched a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament. The Baseball Championship is being held May 23-27 in Clearwater, Florida at Bright House Networks Field with the top eight teams earning a berth.

The Hoyas have won nine league games this season, the most since 1986. Twenty years ago, Georgetown posted a 12-6 mark against conference foes and qualified for their second of back-to-back BIG EAST Baseball Tournaments. Since 1986, Georgetown hasn't won more than eight league games.

GU has won two BIG EAST series this season, marking the first time anyone on the 2006 roster has accomplished the feat.

The Hoyas won the first two games of the WVU series, 5-4 and 7-6 and improved to 9-2 in one-run games.

Georgetown has recorded a 15-8 record at Shirley Povich Field.

Junior outfielder Derek deGrijs (Nashville, Tenn./Goodpasture) is in the midst of an eight-game hit streak, one shy of Georgetown's longest streak of the season. deGrijs is batting.357 during the stretch.

Sophomore righty Daniel Kennedy (W. Orange, N.J./Regis) earned two saves last week and in the process set the school's single-season save mark. Kennedy earned two saves in the first two games of the West Virginia series, both one-run games, pitching the ninth in both outings and only facing one batter over the minimum. Kennedy now has nine saves on the year and hasn't allowed an earned run in five of his last six appearances to lower his ERA to 3.44.

Prior to Sunday's game, the Georgetown Athletics Department will recognize the eight seniors who will be participating in their final home game, Matthew Johnson (Bothell, Wash./Newport), Drew Dargen (Edmund, Okla./Edmund North), Timmy Jones (Ledgewood, N.J./Morristown), Ryan Craft (Jupiter, Fla./The Benjamin School), Warren Sizemore (Hamilton, Ohio/Ross), Kevin Lundquist (Oley, Pa./The Hill School), Scooter Bernoskie (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel) and Stephen Burns (Westchester, Pa./Malvern Prep).