Feb. 19, 2016 Final Stats
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Georgetown University baseball team dropped its season opener at the Wake Forest Invitational, 3-1, to the host Demon Deacons on Friday night at David F. Couch Ballpark.
The Hoyas totaled five hits on the night, led by two singles from Michael DeRenzi (Mendham, N.J./Seton Hall Prep). Chase Bushor (San Diego, Calif./Santa Fe Christian) was also on base twice with a hit and a walk.
Matt Smith (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) started and battled for 3.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits. He walked two and had four strikeouts. The Hoya bullpen pitched 4.1 innings of one-run relief, giving up just three hits. Jimmy Swad (Washington, D.C./St. Albans) came in to relieve Smith and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings. Tim Davis (Vienna, Va./James Madison HS) pitched two innings with three strikeouts and Max Allen (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) had a scoreless inning, his first appearance in nearly two years.
Wake Forest got on the board in the bottom of third, scoring a pair of runs on a solo home run and a sacrifice fly to take a 2-0 lead.
The Demon Deacons extended the lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning with another solo home run.
Georgetown's bats were quiet for the first seven innings. The Hoyas got one-out doubles in both the first and second inning from Bushor and Eric Garza (San Antonio, Texas/Ronald Reagan/TCU/San Jacinto), respectively, but were unable to advance either runner. Joseph Bialkowski (Raleigh, N.C./Needham B. Broughton) and DeRenzi both had singles in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively.
The offense came to life in the top of the eighth. Walks to Eric Webber (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's) and Beau Hall (Seaville, N.J./Ocean City) and a single by DeRenzi loaded the bases with one out. Bushor followed with GU's third walk of the inning to score Webber, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Wake Forest brought in its closer, however, who got the final five outs on three strikeouts, stranding the bases loaded in the eighth.
The Hoyas are right back at it on Saturday, taking on Virginia Military Institute at noon. Simon Mathews (West Haven, Conn./Hopkins School) will take the mound for Georgetown. Live stats for the game can be found at guhoyas.com.
