FAIRFAX, Va. – Senior pitcher John Williams tossed a complete game, four-hit shutout as the George Mason baseball team defeated George Washington and evened the weekend series on Saturday afternoon by a score of 5-0.
The Patriots move to 17-22-1, 6-8 in the conference while the Colonials slip to 25-13, 11-5 in the Atlantic 10.
Williams throws his first complete game of the season and the second of the year for Mason. He allowed only four hits and struck out three batters while walking two on less than 100 pitches as he improved to 5-5. Jacob Williams earned the loss for GW, lasting only two and two-third innings with three earned runs and two walks.
The Patriots scored all of their runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The first runs of the game came in the bottom of the second when Brady Acker singled up the middle and scored Kent Blackstone and Tyler Nelin, who reached base on a walk and double, respectively.
Ray Toto led off the bottom of the third with the first of his two hits, a single through the left side and was moved up 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt from Luke Willis. Two batters later Brandon Gum singled home Toto for the 3-0 advantage and also stretched his hit streak to 18 games. He went 2-4 while Willis went 1-4, also recording a hit for the 18th straight contest.
Nelin led off the fourth with a single through the right side and Acker reached on an error at first base to put two men on with nobody out. A sacrifice bunt by Trevor Kelly advanced the runners before Toto missed his second homerun of the season by inches, doubling off the left-center field wall to score Nelin. Willis followed with a bloop single into right field to score Acker. Mason ended the day with 10 hits.
Three of the four Colonial hits came off of the bat of Joey Bartosic, who doubled and singled twice. Acker and Nelin ended their days with two hits apiece and moved their batting averages over .300.
The #RevRivalry series will be decided on Sunday, April 26 with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch at Spuhler Field. The Patriot Club picnic before Sunday's game begins at 11:30 a.m. Costs are $5 for children and $10 for adults and includes food, drinks and tickets to the game.
