Feb. 18, 2010
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University baseball team hit the road today as the Hoyas traveled South to play Davidson College in a three-game series to start the 2010 season.
The three-game series with the Wildcats begins on Friday, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. The second game in the series will be played on Saturday, Feb. 20, with first pitch slated for 2 p.m. The final game in the three-game set is slated for Sunday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m.
The Hoyas will get a chance to play outdoors for the first time since a pair of winter storms hit the Metropolitan D.C. area in the last two weeks. The weather is scheduled to be sunny and clear this weekend, with temperatures in the 50s.
"We're excited to start the season and we're excited to get outdoors," Head Coach Pete Wilk said. "This is the most excited I've been since I've been here. We've got a great group of young men and I think this is one of the most talented teams we've had since I've been here. If our pitching holds up, I think we'll be a pretty good team."
The Hoyas bussed to North Carolina on Thursday morning and were practicing at Wilson Field that afternoon.
"We're currently running around with smiles on our faces," Wilk said as the team went through its workouts. "It's sunny out, it's 52 degrees, but it feels like 90 right now. This is the feeling we had when we were little kids and playing for the first time. I think our guys are really excited to start the season."
Georgetown has played Davidson 16 times, with the Wildcats leading the head-to-head series, 11-5. The teams last met on Feb. 24, 2008, with Georgetown posting a 13-2 win.
Georgetown finished the 2009 season with a 17-34 overall record and went 8-18 in the BIG EAST. The Hoyas, who return all but one starter in the field, were led at the plate by junior catcher Erick Fernandez (Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah), who batted .349 (59-169) with five home runs and 28 RBI. Junior infielder Sean Lamont (Houston, Texas/Bellaire) hit a team-leading 14 home runs and drove in a team-best 50 RBI.
The Hoyas also return a pair of 10-game starters on the mound in senior Tim Adleman (Raleigh, N.C./Wakfield) and sophomore Will Harris (Fort Worth, Texas/All Saints Episcopal). Adleman, slated to start Friday, finished with a 4-8 record a season ago with a 5.40 ERA and a 66-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Saturday's slated starter, Harris finished 3-9 with a 6.44 ERA a season ago. Junior Tommy Isaacs (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Bolles), who started one game but led the team with 16 appearances out of the bullpen in 2009 and went 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA, is scheduled to start Sunday's contest.
Davidson is coming off an 18-31 season, including an 11-16 mark in the Southern Conference. Senior Danny Weiss is the team's top returning batter, starting 42 of 43 games last year and batting .323 with 14 doubles, six home runs and 37 runs batted in. Sophomore left-handed pitcher started 10 of 17 games last year and posted a 1-4 record with a 5.65 earned run average while senior southpaw Thomas Middour posted a 2-8 record with a 7.11 ERA in 13 starts.
Georgetown is slated to host the New York Institute of Technology in a three-game series from Feb. 26-28 at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md. Following that series, the Hoyas will travel South to play in the Rollins College baseball Week in Winter Park, Fla.
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