WASHINGTON – Nick Morreale (Lake Elmo, Minn. / St. Thomas Academy / IMG Academy) set career highs with 8.0 innings pitched and 14 strikeouts, leading the Georgetown University baseball team to a 2-1 victory over St. John's on Saturday night at Shirley Povich Field in a BIG EAST Conference game. With the win, the Hoyas clinch the series victory and improve to 15-27 overall and 4-4 in BIG EAST play while the Red Storm fall to 23-16 on the season and 5-6 in conference action.
 
Morreale was on fire all night, allowing just one unearned run on seven hits and three walks. His 14 strikeouts surpassed his previous career high of 12 which he set two weeks ago against Villanova. He struck out two batters in each of the first four innings and had multiple strikeouts in seven of his eight innings. Jacob Grzebinski (Bellaire, Texas / Emory Weiner) had two strikeouts in a hitless ninth inning for his seventh save of the season and second in as many nights.
 
The Hoyas had just two hits on the evening, doubles by Ryan Weisenberg (Parkland, Fla. / San Ramon Valley [Calif.]) and AJ Lotsis (Phoenixville, Pa. / Episcopal Academy), but took advantage of four walks and three hit batters.
 
For the second-consecutive night, Georgetown got on the board first. In the bottom of the first, Kyle Ruedisili (Jupiter, Fla. / The Benjamin School / Washington and Lee University) led off with a walk and stole second base. He went to third on a passed ball and scored easily on a sacrifice fly to deep right-center field by Freddy Achecar III (Atlanta, Ga. / Lovett School) to give GU a 1-0 lead.
 
In the bottom of the third, Ryan M. Davis (Danville, Calif. / San Ramon Valley) was hit by a pitch and Eddie McCabe (Norwalk, Conn. / Conn.) walked before Weisenberg lifted a double off the center field fence, scoring Davis to extend the lead to 2-0.
 
St. John's answered with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, but Morreale stranded a pair of runners with two more strikeouts.
 
In the top of the fifth, James Gabor (Wyndmoor, Pa. / William Penn Charter School) threw out the potential tying run at the plate on a great throw following a single. Morreale and Grzebinski stranded four more runners over the last four innings to seal the second one-run victory in as many nights.
 
The two teams will conclude their three-game series on Sunday afternoon with first pitch at Shirley Povich Field scheduled for 1 p.m. Links to live stats and a video stream will be available at GUHoyas.com.