FAIRFAX, Va. – Trevor Kelly tied the game with a two-out, two-strike single in the bottom of the ninth and Kent Blackstone gave George Mason baseball the 4-3 walkoff victory over George Washington after a two-out single in the bottom of the 10th on Sunday afternoon at Spuhler Field.
Mason wins its third consecutive weekend series and improves to 18-22-1, 7-8 in the Atlantic 10. George Washington bounces to 25-14 overall, 11-6 in the A-10.
With a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning George Washington sent closer Eddie Muhl to the mound, who leads NCAA Division I with 15 saves this season after closing out Friday's contest. Jake Kalish drew a leadoff walk and exited for Andrew Sable who came in as the pinch runner. Tyler Nelin sacrificed Sable over to second base and with two outs away Kelly singled a 2-2 pitch back up the middle past a diving Kevin Mahala at shortstop to bring home Sable and tie the game at three runs apiece.
Tyler Tobin began his second inning of work in the top of the 10th after tossing a perfect ninth. He allowed a leadoff single to Joey Bartosic however the left fielder was gunned down by Ray Toto trying to steal second base. Tobin retired the next two in order on the way to earning his first victory of the season (1-1).
Muhl took the mound as well for the bottom of the 10th and began his inning in similar fashion to the ninth, allowing the leadoff man on base after a Luke Willis beat out a ground ball to third. He was bunted over by Michael Smith and two batters later scored the winning run due to Blackstone's game-winning RBI single into left-center field. The Vienna, Va. native recorded his team-leading 38th RBI and delivered the first walkoff win of the season for Mason.
GW went up early, recording one run and two hits in each of the first two innings for a 2-0 lead off of Tyler Zombro. The Colonials would add their third in the top of the fourth and ended Zombro's day after five innings. The righty allowed two earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts in the no-decision.
Robbie Metz kept Mason off of the base paths until there were two outs in the fifth inning when Kalish reached on an error and Nelin singled in the next at bat. He left the game after five-and-a-third innings with seven strikeouts.
Trailing 3-0 Mason scored its first two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Kelly led off with a single which was followed by singles from Willis, Smith and Brandon Gum to plate two runners. Willis and Gum both keep their hitting streaks alive, which are now at 19 games.
Evan Porcella pitched in middle relief and delivered a solid two and two-thirds innings with only one hit allowed as he struck out the side in the sixth. Muhl suffers his second loss of the year for GW. Mason out-hit the Colonials 10-7 in the contest.
The series victory for Mason also gains the school a point in the #RevRivalry standings. George Washington now leads by only one point, 7.5-6.5.
The Patriots play their final non-conference game of the season on Tuesday, April 28 when UMBC visits at 3:00 p.m.
