March 2, 2002 Washington, DC - The Georgetown Hoyas baseball team nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback in the second game of a doubleheader before falling by the score of 12-13 and settling for a split on the day verse Lafayette College.  GU won the opener 7-5 behind six strong innings from sophomore Kevin Field (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) who allowed one earned run on four hits with three strikeouts.

The Hoyas took an early 1-0 lead in Game 1 in the bottom of the first when catcher Michael Lombardi (So., Brookhaven, N.Y./St. Anthony?s) followed singles by second baseman Ron Cano (So., El Segundo, Calif./El Segundo) and center fielder Carlos Gazitua (So., Miami, Fla./Monsignor Pace) with a line-drive up the middle knocking in his fourth RBI of the season.  Georgetown extended their lead to 5-0 with four runs in the bottom of the third.  Freshman Matt Johnson (Bellevue, Wash./Newport) led of the inning with the first homerun of his collegiate career.  The Hoyas added three more runs with a Gazitua RBI single, a Robert O?Hare (Jr., San Jose, Calif./Mission College) sacrifice fly, and an error on the Leopards.  Lafayette cut the lead to 5-1 with a run in the top of the fourth but the Hoyas added two more in the fifth opening up a six run lead.  The Leopards battled back scoring a run in the sixth and two in the seventh before pitcher Kevin Galvin (So., Cherry Hill, N.J./Bishop Eustace Prep) entered the game with runners on the corners and no outs hanging on to a 7-4 lead.  Galvin did not allow a hit and got three of the next four batters out picking up the save (1) and securing the Hoyas 7-5 victory.  Cano led the team with three hits and three runs scored while O?Hare paced the team with two RBIs.  Field improved to 1-1 on the year with a 3.21 ERA.  James Duer picked up the loss for Lafayette.

Georgetown?s momentum continued into the second game as they grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the first.  Third baseman Tony Lee (Jr., Bromall, Pa./Malvern Prep) opened up the inning with a leadoff double to left and then scored on an error by the second baseman.  The Leopards bats awakened over the next four innings scoring 10 runs on 11 hits including doubles by Jason Moll, Tye Gonser, Matt Tambellini, and Craig Alexander.  The Hoyas managed three runs in the third, all with two outs.  Cano doubled scoring Brett McLeod (So., St. Albert, Alberta/Paul Kane) and Gazitua picked up the other two RBI?s on a single to right field.  Trailing 10-4 after five, GU rallied back to tie the game at 10 with four runs in the sixth and two in the seventh forcing the game into extra innings.  Lafayette answered the challenge though with three more runs in the top of the eighth all but ending the Hoyas chances.  Georgetown, now trailing 13-10, turned the rally caps around, got loud, and mounted what would have been an unbelievable comeback.  Johnson led off with a double to center field.  Lee followed with a single through the left side.  Matt Carullo (Jr., Oakton, Va./Paul VI) recorded the first out on a sacrifice fly to left ? trimming the lead to two.  Cano followed with a double to right center putting himself in scoring position and cutting the lead down to one.  The Leopards pitched around Gazitua placing runners on first and second with one out.  Lafayette pitcher Brandon Ripley closed the door on the Hoyas forcing GU?s final two batters to fly out to left and right field respectively.  Cano and Lee both recorded three hits on the day while Carullo, Gazitua, Bill Quinn (Fr., Alta Loma, Calif./Alta Loma), McLeod, and Johnson all had two.  Georgetown relief pitcher Sean Cox (Jr., Princeton Juntion, N.J./West Windsor) suffered the loss (0-1).  Ripley recorded the win for Lafayette.

Georgetown is 3-1 over their last four and 3-8 on the season.  The Hoyas and Leopards continue to battle this weekend with another double-header tomorrow (Sunday, March 03, 2002) at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, MD.  Both contests are scheduled for seven innings with the opener starting at noon EST.