George Washington University

April 2, 2008

Box Score

ARLINGTON, VA - George Washington (15-11) had 13 hits and crushed four home runs, including a grand slam off the bat of Tim Reeves (Cumming, GA/North Forsyth) in the bottom of the eighth that blew the game open, as the Colonials downed Georgetown, 11-4, Wednesday afternoon at Barcroft Park. The win avenged a loss from earlier this season (Mar. 18), when the Hoyas (bested GW, 10-4, in Bethesda, MD.

GW's four home runs equaled their game-high in 2008, a mark they set just last week at Towson, an 11-5 win. Against Georgetown (8-14), the Colonials got home runs from sophomore Curtis Eward (Oak Hill, VA/Oakton), sophomore Tom Zebroski (Port Washington, NY/Paul Schreiber), senior Charlie Kruer (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) and junior Tim Reeves.

Eward's blast, a two-run shot to left field that was his first of the season, staked GW to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Hoyas scratched together two runs to tie the game in the top of the third on a two-run single hit by Sean Baumann.

The Hoyas added a run in top of the fifth, making it 3-2 with a Greg Pustizzi sacrifice bunt. In the bottom half of the frame, GW plated two runs with a pair of solo home runs to reclaim the lead, 4-3. Tom Zebroski (2) led-off and turned on a 1-0 pitch, depositing it over the fence in left field. Two batters later, Charlie Kruer (5) hit an opposite-field homer, sending the first pitch he saw deep to left. For Kruer, who led the team with 13 homers in 2007, today's shot was his first since Mar. 9. He is now tied for seventh all-time at GW with 31 career home runs (Brad Rosenblat, 2003-05).

That slim lead quickly evaporated in the next inning, however, when Matt Harrigan hit a sac-fly deep to right field to tie the game, 4-4. In the bottom of the sixth, GW plated the go-ahead, and ultimately, game winning run. Junior Doug Eizen (Philadelphia, PA/The Haverford School), who entered the game as a defensive replacement at third base the inning before, struck out swinging, but reached safely after the wild pitch got away from the catcher. Eizen then went first to third when the next batter, Zebroski, singled to right, and then scored when Matt Boyd (Rockville, MD/Magruder) laid a perfect bunt down the third-base line for a base hit.

In the bottom of the seventh, Bryan Hwang (Northvale, NJ/Northern Valley Regional at Old Tappan) drove in another GW run with a single laced into right-center, making it 6-4. An inning later, the Colonials put the game out of reach with five runs in the eighth. Andrew Abokhair (Ashburn, VA/Broad Run) drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the first run of the inning, and then Tim Reeves (3) followed and cleared the bases with a grand slam, crushed over the scoreboard in deep center field, giving GW their largest and final advantage of the game, 11-4. The four-run shot extended Reeves' hit-streak to 11 games, a career best and tops on the team this season. Prior to that home run, Reeves was 0-for-4 in the game.

Redshirt sophomore Justin Dignelli (Katonah, NY/The Hackley School) pitched 3.1 innings out of the bullpen and allowed just one hit and one run as he picked up his first collegiate win. He was redshirted in 2006 and missed all of 2007 with an injury.

Zebroski, Eward, Abokhair and Chris Holland (Pasadena, MD/Chesapeake) all had two hits. Eward finished 2-for-3 with the home run and two RBI.

GW improved to 87-29-1 all-time against Georgetown, and is now 6-6 at home in 2008. The Colonials are now 11-0 when leading after six innings, 14-0 when leading after eight and 5-1 when they hit two or more home runs.

George Washington (15-11, 4-2 A-10) hosts Massachusetts (6-10, 1-5 A-10) in a three-game, Atlantic 10 Conference series this weekend, beginning Friday, Apr. 4, at 3:00 p.m.

- GW -