WASHINGTON – Behind a career day from
Dante Pozzi and a lockdown performance from the bullpen, the Georgetown University baseball team (12-6) secured a 5-4 victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions (4-11) on Wednesday afternoon at Capital One Park. The win completes the mid-week sweep of the Nittany Lions.
ON THE RECORD
"I'm truly proud of our organization. Those are two really good wins the past two days to sweep a Big Ten school. I'm proud of how our group battled. I thought our bullpen was just outstanding;
JT Raab was good—he gave up a couple of solo shots, which happens—but our relief arms in
Ashton Arroyo,
Andrew Jergins,
Griffin O'Connor, and
Ethan Rucker on back-to-back days really came in and threw strikes. Our defense was outstanding again today, but the story of the day was
Dante Pozzi. Two big home runs, including the tie-breaker in the bottom of the eighth, says a lot about him. I'm happy he stayed the course. It was a good job all around and a great two days of baseball. We'll enjoy this one before moving forward to work on things tomorrow." - Head Coach
Edwin Thompson
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS
- Dante Pozzi provided the offensive fireworks, going 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBIs.
- Griffin O'Connor earned the win (1-0), providing 3.0 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts.
- Ethan Rucker earned his second save of the season with a perfect ninth inning, striking out two on back-to-back days of work.
- Ashtin Gilio went 1-for-4 with a triple and scored the game's opening run.
- Travis Ilitch finished 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
- Christian Hamilton recorded a hit and an RBI.
- Connor Peek contributed an RBI sacrifice fly.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Georgetown jumped out to an early lead in the first inning when Ashtin Gilio led off with a triple and was driven home by a Connor Peek sacrifice fly.
- Penn State responded with solo home runs in the second and third innings to take a 3-1 lead, but the Hoyas continued to battle.
- In the bottom of the third, Travis Ilitch scored on a fielder's choice to cut the deficit to one.
- After the Nittany Lions added another run in the fourth, Dante Pozzi tied the game in the bottom half of the frame with a towering two-run home run to left field, scoring Connor Price.
- The game remained deadlocked at 4-4 until the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs, Pozzi connected on his second home run of the day—a solo shot to left-center that proved to be the game-winner.
- Ethan Rucker then entered in the ninth and retired the side in order to preserve the victory
OF NOTE
- Dante Pozzi recorded his first career multi-home run game.
- The Hoya bullpen turned in a stellar performance, providing 6.0 innings of one-run relief to stifle the Nittany Lion offense and anchor the comeback victory.
- The Hoya defense committed zero errors for the second consecutive game against the Nittany Lions.
UP NEXT
The Hoyas continue their home stand at Capital One Park this weekend for a three-game series against William & Mary. First pitch for the series opener on Friday, March 13, is slated for 3 p.m.