Final Stats

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Simon Mathews (West Haven, Conn./Hopkins School/Temple) struck out a career-high 11 batters to help lead the Georgetown University baseball team to a 10-4 victory over Lafayette College on Friday evening at North Charlotte Regional Park as part of the Snowbird Baseball Classic. With the win, the Hoyas improve to 9-6 on the season, while the Leopards fall to 2-12.

Mathews fired eight strong innings, scattering nine hits and three runs. He did not walk a batter to go along with the 11 strikeouts. Alex Deise (St. Petersburg, Fla./St. John's College HS/FSU) allowed an unearned run in an inning of work.

Zach Racusin (Morristown, N.J./Salisbury School/Marist) led the GU offense with four hits and drove in three runs. Sammy Stevens (Birmingham, Mich./Brother Rice) had two hits, a double and a home run, and two RBI. Michael DeRenzi (Mendham, N.J./Seton Hall Prep), Jake Kuzbel (Ashburn, Va./Stone Ridge) and Beau Hall (Seaville, N.J./Ocean City) all recorded two hits, while Richie O'Reilly (Hermosa Beach, Calif./Loyola HS) had two RBI.

The Hoyas opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, scoring a run on three singles. DeRenzi and Racusin both reached on one-out singles and, one out later, DeRenzi came around to score when Kuzbel singled up the middle to give GU a 1-0 lead.

The advantage extended to 3-0 with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, O'Reilly reached on an error and moved to second on a single by Hall. O'Reilly advanced to third on a fly out and scored when DeRenzi beat out an infield single to the first baseman. Racusin then lined a single into the right-center field gap to push Hall across the plate.

Lafayette got a run back in the top of the fifth, but the Hoyas answered right away with four runs in the bottom half of the inning. Jake Bernstein (Frederick, Md./St. John's College HS) led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by DeRenzi. Racusin drove in Bernstein with his third single of the game and moved to second on the throw to the plate. Stevens then lined a double down the right field line to score Racusin. Kuzbel bunted for a base hit and John Simourian (Andover, Mass./Phillips Andover) reached on an error to load the bases. With two outs, O'Reilly singled up the middle to score both Stevens and Kuzbel and extend Georgetown's lead to 7-1.

The Leopards scored two runs in the top of the seventh on three singles to cut the lead to 7-3, but Stevens got a run back in the bottom of the seventh, crushing a solo home run to right field to lead off the inning. His second home run of the season gave the Hoyas an 8-3 lead.

The Blue & Gray tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the eighth. Hall singled and Bernstein was hit by a pitch to put two runners on with one out. Hall advanced to third on a fly out to put runners on the corners before Racusin lined his fourth hit of the game into right field. Hall scored and Bernstein, who was running on the pitch, went to third and scored when the right fielder booted the ball to give the Hoyas a 10-3 lead.

Lafayette scored a run on a pair of GU errors in the top of the ninth to complete the scoring.

The two teams will resume their three-game series on Saturday with a 2 p.m. game at the Snowbird Baseball Classic. Jack Cushing (Flower Mound, Texas/Marcus) will take the mound for the Blue & Gray. Live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.

Notes ââ'¬" Racusin's first-inning single extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He has hit safely in all but one game this season.