WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University baseball team defeated the Seton Hall Pirates 3-0 on Friday evening securing the Hoyas' 20th victory of the season. The contest was scoreless through the first six frames before Christian Ficca hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh plating the first run of the day for Georgetown. With the win, Georgetown improves to 20-8 on the season and 4-0 in BIG EAST play while Seton Hall slides to 16-13 on the season and 0-1 in conference action.
 
ON THE RECORD
"Today was a great baseball game. This is what you love to see, having both Seton Hall and Georgetown going at each other. Two competitive teams, two competitive programs, on a Friday night and it was just a great baseball game. We had one inning where we strung some hits together and ultimately turned out to be the deciding factor. Our pitching staff did an unbelievable job against their offense. Their pitcher did a good job as well, but we were able to find a way to get those few runs with Christian Ficca's big two RBI single, and Joe Hollerbach's hit behind him allowing us to score those three runs. Tonight, that is all we needed and that is what we do often, play good defense, pitch well and get some big-time hits. I am really proud of our guys after having the delay in the middle of the week and not playing for a bit, coming back out here and putting together a solid performance. We are looking forward to game two tomorrow night here at Capital One Park." – Head Coach Edwin Thompson
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• Marcello Mastroianni went five innings allowing four hits and no runs while fanning four.
• Cody Jensen pitched 1.2 innings and allowed one hit while striking out two.
• Andrew Citron went 2.1 innings allowing one hit en route to his third win of the season.
• Jake Hyde went 2-for-3 with a run scored, a double and two walks.
• Josh Rolling was 1-for-3 with a walk.
• Ficca went 1-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs.
• Owen Carapellotti was 1-for-4.
• Joe Hollerbach went 1-for-3 with an RBI, a double and a hit by pitch.
• Michael Eze was 2-for-4 with a run scored.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first two frames were scoreless for both sides. After a scoreless third, Seton Hall threatened in the top of the fourth loading the bases. Mastroianni was able to work himself out of a jam while allowing no runners to come home keeping the score deadlocked at 0-0.
• The bottom of the fourth and fifth were scoreless for both sides. After a scoreless top half of the sixth from Seton Hall, GU was able to put runners on first and second with one out. The Hoyas were unable to bring any of the runners home keeping the score knotted at zero.
• In the top of the seventh, Seton Hall was able to load the bases with one out. GU was able to work out of a jam once again as Citron came out of the bullpen with two outs and grabbed the third out for the Hoyas.
• With runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Ficca hit an RBI single to center field scoring both runners for the Hoyas as GU tallied the first two runs of the game. In the ensuing at bat, Hollerbach laced an RBI double down the right field line scoring Ficca from first. GU was unable to bring any more runners home as the Hoyas took a 3-0 lead into the eighth frame.
• After a scoreless eighth from both sides, SHU was unable to mount a comeback in the ninth as the Hoyas secured their 20th victory of the 2024 campaign.

OF NOTE

• GU leads the nation in pickoffs with 13.
• Citron secured his third win of the season on the mound. Citron has not allowed a run in his last three outings.
• GU earned four walks on the day.
• Ficca has 42 RBIs on the season, a mark good for top 20 in the country.

UP NEXT
The Hoyas will be back in action tomorrow for game two of the series against Seton Hall. First pitch is slated for 8 p.m. at Capital One Park. A link to live stats and a live stream will be available on GUHoyas.com.