April 20, 2012
Box Score
Notre Dame 7, Georgetown 4 
Bethesda, Md. - Georgetown was edged in the opening game on a three-run home in the ninth inning and staged a late-inning comeback in the second game, but Notre Dame swept a BIG EAST baseball doubleheader, 5-2 and 7-3 in the nightcap, at Shirley Povich Field on Friday evening.
The doubleheader loss drops Georgetown's record to 18-20 overall and 5-9 in the BIG EAST, while Notre Dame improves to 21-16 overall and 8-6 in league play.
Notre Dame had taken a 7-2 lead after six innings and the Hoyas had stages in the latter third of the game, but could not capitalize. In the sixth, the Hoyas put the first two runners on base after singles from redshirt junior shortstop Mike Garza (San Antonio, Texas/Douglas MacArthur) and sophomore Steve Anderson (Albany, N.Y./Guilderland), but a double play ended the inning. In the seventh, senior second baseman Andy Lentz (Farmington Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) singled and moved to second on a wild pitch with one out, but he was left stranded at third.
Georgetown picked up a pair of runs in the seventh off ND reliever Donnie Hissa, who put runners on second and third after a leadoff walk to senior right fielder Rand Ravnaas (Fort Worth, Texas/All Saints' Episcopal) and a double to right from Garza. Sophomore Christian Venditti (Newtonville, Mass./St. Sebastian's) drove in one run with a ground out and senior catcher Kevin Johnson (Peabody, Mass./Belmont Hill) hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Garza to make it 7-4.
In the ninth, the Hoyas had the tying run at the plate with one out after junior center fielder Justin Leeson (Exton, Pa./West Chester) walked and junior third baseman Corbin Blakey (Alpharetta, Ga./Centennial) was hit by a pitch, but BIG EAST saves leader Dan Slania (9) induced a fly out from Ravnaas and struck out Garza to end the game.
The Irish had taken an early lead on a solo home run from Trey Mancini in the second and were up 2-0 after three innings. Georgetown cut the lead to 2-1 in the third when Ravnaas hit a single to left, plating Lentz, who had hit a leadoff double.
The Hoyas cut the lead to 4-2 in the fourth, but could have had the chance for more. Johnson was hit by a pitch and junior first baseman Danny Poplawski (Bellevue, Wash./Overlake) doubled to put runners on second and third. Junior left fielder Paul Bello (Towaca, N.J./Delbarton) drove in a run with a ground out, but Poplawski was caught between second and third and called for the final out of the inning.
In the top half of the fifth, the Fighting Irish scored four runs on five hits off Georgetown starter Neal Dennison (Houston, Texas/Lamar) to take a 7-2 lead. Dennison went 4.2 innings, giving seven runs on 10 hits, including two sole home runs from Mancini, with two walks and one strikeout.
In the opener, junior reliever Charles Steinman (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Chaminade) came on in relief in the top of the ninth with the game tied at 2-all. After recording one out, Frank DeSico hit a single to left and a single to right form Ryan Bull put runners on the corners. Steinman's first pitch to Eric Jagielo was taken to left and Bello appeared to have a play on the ball, but it carried up and over the fence for a home run, giving Notre Dame a 5-2 lead.
Notre Dame reliever Sean Fitzgerald retired the Hoyas in order in the ninth.
Georgetown starter Will Harris (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep) battled in the early innings and escaped damage. With one out, Notre Dame loaded the bases on a first pitch single up the middle, a single off the foot of Harris and a first pitch single to left Harris, however, induced a ground ball to Garza for a 643 double play, ending the inning. In the second inning, the Irish put the first two runners on base with none out and runners on second and third with one out, but escaped without damage.
After putting runners on base and in scoring position in each of the first two innings, the Fighting Irish got on the board in the third inning Bull hit a leadoff single and Jagielo followed with a blast to right-center, making it 2-0.
The Hoyas managed only one hit off Notre Dame starter Will Hudgins through the first three innings, but finally reached him after two outs were recorded in the fourth inning. Johnson reached on an infield single and Poplawski followed with a single to left. Bello was hit by a pitch to load the bases and junior third baseman Trevor Matern (Santa Clarita, Calif./Hart) followed with a single to left, bringing home two runs to tie the game.
Georgetown had a chance to break the tie in the sixth with a pair of runners on base with one out after a single to right from Johnson and one to left from Poplawski. After Hudgins struck out Bello, Fitzgerald entered the game and induced a ground ball out to get out of the inning. The Blue & Gray did not have much luck with Fitzgerald in the latter innings, as he retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth before the Irish took the lead in the top of the ninth.
Harris finished the day throwing 8.0 innings while scattering two runs on 10 hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Because of inclement weather scheduled for later on Saturday and Sunday, the third game of the series will be played on Saturday, April 21, with first pitch at noon.
