4/8/2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. ? Georgetown Baseball (7-20, 1-11) claimed an 8-4 victory over the Terrapins of the University of Maryland (11-18) on Tuesday at UMD?s Shipley Field.
The win, the Hoyas? first since they beat Coppin State on March 19, frees Georgetown from an eleven-game losing streak. En route to victory, the Hoyas received especially impressive performances from sophomore catcher Andrew Cleary (Weston, Mass./Belmont Hill School) and senior pitcher Pat Salvitti (North Wales, Penn./LaSalle College).
Batting in the clean-up spot, Cleary went 4-for-5 in the game with four RBI, two runs scored, a double, and the game?s only home run. This all comes after his 3-for-3, two-home-run, four-RBI performance in the Hoyas? last game, the second in a doubleheader played with Rutgers University over the weekend. Cleary?s homerun against UMD was his eighth this season. He also produced errorless defensive work while recording seven putouts at catcher, where he stood in for regular starting catcher Michael Lombardi (Brookhaven Hamlet, N.Y./St. Anthony?s), who took a break from his duties behind the plate and batted in Cleary?s regular DH position instead.
On the mound, Salvitti pitched a complete game for the Hoyas, allowing only seven hits and three earned runs in his nine innings of work. Salvitti also struck out eight Terrapin batters while hurling the Hoyas to victory.
The Hoyas jumped out to an early lead by scoring three runs in the top of the second inning. These came from Jim Supple (Summit, N.J./St. Peter?s Prep), Timmy Jones (Ledgewood, N.J./Morristown), and Ron Cano (El Segundo, Calif./El Segundo), who all singled one after another with one out. Supple scored on a throwing error by Maryland?s pitcher; Jones reached home on a sacrifice fly from Carullo; and Cano scored all the way from first base on Lombardi?s two-out double.
The Hoyas? 3-0 lead continued until the fifth inning, when both teams produced a run. Georgetown?s tally was scored by Cleary, who after doubling to start the inning, crossed the plate on a single from Billy Quinn (Alta Loma, Calif./Alta Loma).
Georgetown added two more in the seventh, when Cleary homered to left with Lombardi on base. Cleary knocked in another two runs with a bases-loaded single in the top of the eighth. This put the Hoyas? lead at 8-1 after eight and a half innings.
Maryland rallied in its half of the eighth, scoring three to put the score at 8-4, but Salvitti remained in the game and shut the Terps down in the ninth, eliminating the possibility of a UMD comeback and leaving 8-4 to become the final score.
Georgetown hopes to maintain its momentum in its next game, a rematch vs. George Washington University to be played in Arlington Wednesday, April 9, at 3 p.m.
