Baseball (15-12, 5-4 Atlantic 10) bested George Mason (17-11, 5-4 A-10) in a three-game series this weekend, winning the first two games before dropping the third on Sunday to end their five-game winning streak.
The Revolutionaries clinched both wins narrowly, with a three-run walk-off home run by senior third baseman Ty Acker delivering a 4-3 win on Friday, and a close 8-7 victory closing out the second game on Saturday. The Patriots pushed back on Sunday, beating the Revs 11-1 in just eight innings, invoking the conference’s 10-run mercy rule.
After Sunday’s game, Head Coach Gregg Ritchie said emotional control has been a key for the team’s success this season, urging players to hone in on their performance despite the tally on the scoreboard.
“We really focused on, whether it was on the pitching side, defensive side or whether it was on the offensive side,” Ritchie said. “We really focused on that but really captivating, compartmentalizing the inning. It is just this inning. The score is 0-0 every single inning we play.”
Friday’s game began as a pitcher’s duel, with both teams struggling offensively. The Revs’ starting pitcher, graduate student Michael Foltz Jr., pitched six innings, allowing three runs and four hits while striking out six. After a three-run home run by George Mason in the sixth, sophomore catcher Robbie Lavey drove in a run of his own.
With two outs in the ninth, the Revs found themselves down 3-1 at the bottom of the inning. A single and a hit-by-pitch brought two runners on base for Acker, who drilled the ball over the right-centerfield wall to win the first game 4-3.
Ritchie said Acker’s “clutter-free” mindset at the plate helps him focus during key moments, like the game-winning walk-off.
“Talk about hitters like Acker, it’s a big moment, right?” Ritchie said. “It’s a big moment, you got multiple runners on, the tying run’s at first, the winning run’s at the plate. You can have a lot of things going through your head. And for somebody like him, you got to keep him clutter free.”
The Revs’ momentum carried into Saturday, when they started hot with a strong offensive showing in the first inning. Lavey blasted a three-run home run to right field, bringing home redshirt junior left fielder Greg Marmo and senior right fielder Sam Gates.
GW continued their scoring in the third as Marmo doubled to right-center, driving in Gates, followed by an RBI single by Lavey that scored Marmo. Acker added another run with a fielder’s choice RBI, extending the Revs’ lead to 6-1.
In the fifth inning, George Mason landed six men on base, scoring three runs. After a run apiece for GW in the sixth and seventh innings, the Patriots notched three more runs in the eighth, off an RBI double and a two-run home run.
Junior Cade Davis held it down on the mound to close the game, picking up his first save as George Mason failed to tie the match in the ninth inning.
With the series clinched in GW’s favor, the Patriots came alive in Sunday’s game, scoring five runs in the second inning alone. They were aided by a struggling GW defense, who committed five errors on the day, including two in the second.
After falling behind 5-0, save for one run in the second, GW failed to match George Mason’s scoring output. The game remained 5-1 until the seventh inning, when the Patriots added two more runs. They piled on four more runs in the eighth, and when GW failed to score in the bottom of the inning, the game ended by mercy rule.
Ritchie said that despite the tough loss on Sunday, he was encouraged by the team’s dogged attitude.
“Our guys just never, ever, ever, ever quit,” Ritchie said. “They just don’t. Even today, when we weren’t really at our best, the vibe in the dugout was still, ‘Let’s go do it, we can still find a way. Let’s find a way.’”
The team will look to take back their victory streak in their face-off against Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland, on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
