Final Stats

VCU Box Score | Delaware Box Score

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Georgetown baseball team opened the 2015 season on Friday, dropping a pair of games at the Wake Forest Invitational. The Hoyas lost 6-3 to Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) in the first game before falling 3-0 in the second game to Delaware. Both games were played at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

Game One - VCU 6, Georgetown 3 ...
Georgetown had 10 hits, but VCU capitalized on three errors to defeat the Hoyas 6-3 in the season-opener.

Matt Hollenbeck (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) started for GU and went four innings giving up four runs, three earned, with one strikeout. Joseph Bialkowski (Raleigh, N.C./Needham B. Broughton) went 3-for-4 with a double and a run. AC Carter (Winter Park, Fla./Orangewood Christian) and Curtiss Pomeroy (Shrewsbury, Mass./Saint John's/Phillips Andover) each had two hits. Simon Mathews (West Haven, Conn./Hopkins School) pitched four innings in relief, giving up two runs while striking out two.

VCU scored a run in the bottom of the first without the benefit of hit, taking a 1-0 lead on a walk, hit-by-pitch and error. The Rams doubled the lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the second with a two-out, opposite field home run.

The Hoyas got a run back in the top of the third, thanks to some textbook small ball. Bialkowski led off with a double into the right-center gap. Eric Webber (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's) moved him over to third with a perfect sacrifice bunt and Chase Bushor (San Diego, Calif./Santa Fe Christian), in his first collegiate at-bat, hit a two-strike sacrifice fly to score Bialkowski.

After VCU expanded its lead to 4-1 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, Georgetown plated two more in the top of the fourth with some more small ball. Austin Shirley (Strafford, Pa./Conestoga), Nick Collins (Carthage, N.C./Union Pines) and Carter led off the inning with three-consecutive singles, with Carter's hit scoring Shirley from second. After a fielder's choice put runners at the corners with one out, a perfectly-executed safety squeeze by Evan Ryan (Omaha, Neb./Creighton Prep) pushed Collins across the plate to pull the Hoyas within one, 4-3.

VCU added insurance runs in the fifth and eighth innings.

Game Two - Delaware 3, Georgetown 0 ...
Delaware (1-0) scored three runs on three hits in the top of the ninth inning off of Tim Davis to provide all of the offense, defeating GU 3-0.

Matt Smith (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) pitched seven shutout innings for the Hoyas with seven strikeouts. He did not allow a hit until the fifth inning and only gave up three hits total. He shut down the Delaware offense in order in four of his seven innings. Jake Kuzbel (Ashburn, Va./Stone Ridge) had two doubles and Georgetown also got hits from Shirley, Ryan and Pomeroy.

The best opportunity for the Hoyas came in the bottom of the ninth, already trailing 3-0. With two outs, Pomeroy singled and Kuzbel followed with his second double of the game, a shallow bloop into left field. Jake Bernstein (Frederick, Md./St. John's College High School) pinch-hit in his collegiate debut, but popped out to shortstop to end the game.

Georgetown wraps up the weekend on Saturday morning with a 9:30 a.m. game against Bucknell. Freshman Kevin Superko (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley/Phillips Andover) will make his first career start for the Hoyas.