4/15/2004
Box Score
BETHESDA, Md. ? In a game that seemed reminiscent of the two teams? first meeting earlier this season, the Georgetown baseball team held off a late rally by cross-town rival George Washington, and came away with a 5-4 win on Thursday afternoon at Shirley Povich Field.
The Hoyas (20-20) built a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning, the same score at that point in the game when the two teams battled back on Feb. 24, but this time the Georgetown bullpen ended the Colonials? comeback, and the Hoyas walked away with a victory.
Thomas Braun (Kingwood, Texas/ Kingwood) earned his sixth save of the year, leaving the tying run stranded on second base, and preserved the win built by Hoya starter Billy Quinn (Alta Loma, Calif./ Alta Loma) and reliever Warren Sizemore (Hamilton, Ohio/ Ross). With three Georgetown errors, two of which came in the Colonials? three-run ninth inning, only one of the four runs George Washington scored was charged to the Georgetown staff.
Quinn pitched three shutout innings to open the game, striking out three and allowing no walks, and Georgetown tacked on its first runs of the game in the bottom of the second.
Michael Lombardi (Brookhaven Hamlet, N.Y./ St. Anthony's) walked to open the inning, and a single by Timmy Jones (Ledgewood, N.J./ Morristown) and a wild pitch advanced Lombardi to third, where he would later score on an RBI groundout by Jim Supple (Summit, N.J./ St. Peter?s Prep). The next batter, shortstop Matthew Johnson (Bothell, Wash./ Newport), who entered the contest struggling offensively, launched his first home run of the season over the leftfield wall to put the Hoyas up 3-0.
Georgetown manufactured two more runs in the third and fourth innings, the first of which was set up by a Parker Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev./ Bishop Gorman) walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Ron Cano (El Segundo, Calif./ El Segundo) and an RBI single by Lombardi. Supple reached on a bunt hit in the fourth, moved up on a groundout, and scored on a single by Danny Gronski (Sammamish, Wash./ Skyline) up the middle.
George Washington didn?t get on the board until the top of the seventh, when a double by Brad Rosenblat and a fielding error scored Geoff Milsom, who had led the inning off with a single. The Colonials put their first two men on in the ninth, when the Georgetown defense stumbled with a pair of routine groundballs up the middle. Rosenblat, the next batter, hammered a three-run opposite-field home run to left. After a groundout, Sizemore surrendered a double to George Washington centerfielder Matt Owens. Sizemore was subsequently replaced by Braun, and the Hoya closer got the next two batters to pop up, and ended the game with Owens still in scoring position.
Sizemore earned the win, and improved his record to 3-4, while Braun picked up his sixth save of the year, which gives him the sole lead in the BIG EAST in that category. Braun?s six saves are the most a Georgetown pitcher has had in a season since Derek Pines closed out eight games in 1997.
Quinn retained his perfect 0.00 ERA through four appearances this season. Gronski, who went 2-for-3 on the day, was the only Georgetown batter to record multiple hits in the game. The Hoyas were out-hit overall nine to eight by George Washington, and committed three errors to the Colonials' one.
Next on Georgetown?s schedule is a three-game series against fourth-ranked Notre Dame this weekend at Shirley Povich Field. The Hoyas are 13-3 at home this season.
