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TYSONS, Va. – Behind a strong start by graduate student pitcher Sam Lavin who only gave up one run, and a four-run third inning, the second-seeded George Mason Patriots defeated the fourth-seeded Davidson Wildcats, 5-1, in the semifinal round of the 2025 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship on Friday afternoon at Capital One Park in Tysons, Va.

With the Wildcats eliminated, the Patriots will now play their second game of the day this evening at 7 p.m. and are awaiting the loser of the No.1 Rhode Island/No. 3 Saint Louis game that starts at 3 p.m. Follow the game on Livestats here or on ESPN+ here.

THE LEADOFF

• The Patriot defense only allowed one run, the fewest in a George Mason A-10 Tournament game since May 27, 2023, when they beat Saint Louis 4-1 in Game 1 of the Championship Game.
• Lavin tossed a 6.2 inning one-hitter and recorded six strikeouts. It was his longest outing since March 28 at George Washington and matched his season-high in strikeouts, which he set in the regular season at Davidson on May 9.
• Davidson was retired in order five times and had two more innings where only four batters came up and scored no runs. The only run the Wildcats scored was in the seventh inning.
• Up 2-0 in the third, freshman left fielder Lucas Alberti hit a bases-clearing two-run double in the to extend the Patriot lead to four runs. The other two Patriots to record RBI were junior outfielder James Quinn-Irons and rookie catcher Andrew Raymond.
• Of the seven Patriots the recorded a hit in Friday's first game, three had multi-hit games; Owen Clyne had a game-high three hits, while Jonny Wall and designated hitter Drew Canody both had two.
• The Patriots proved to be difficult to get out, as only two Patriots went down on strikes and the first strikeout was not recorded until the seventh inning. The Wildcats also committed five errors on the day which resulted in four unearned runs.
• George Mason now has 14 stolen bases in the A-10 Tournament, which is tied with the 2024 George Washington team for most in conference tournament history (among seven-team playoffs).

The first two innings between George Mason (39-20, 20-10) and Davidson (27-29, 18-12) were tightly contested, as both teams only recorded one hit in the first inning and were retired in order in both halves of the second inning. 

The Patriots broke out in the top of the third inning, scoring four runs of the inning. All four runs were unearned, as the Wildcats committed multiple fielding errors.

After designated hitter Drew Canody singled through the left side to get on base, he advanced to second during Owen Clyne's at-bat by beating the Wildcat rundown between the first baseman Chris Schuchart and shortstop Jack Cotrone. Clyne would eventually draw a five-pitch walk.

With runners on the corners, Owen Hull was up to bat. The Patriots executed a double steal attempt in which Davidson's pitcher Matt Weber threw to first to try to catch Clyne and the Patriots in another rundown. However, first baseman Schuchart committed a throwing error when he threw to home and missed his target, allowing Canody to score the first run of the game and Clyne to advance to second.

Hull's at-bat ended in a productive groundout, moving Clyne to third. Up next to bat was junior center fielder James Quinn-Irons, who laced an RBI single to right center, easily scoring Clyne. The following batter, graduate student first baseman Jonny Wall drew a walk on four pitches.

Quinn-Irons then stole third during Lucas Alberti's at-bat to tie the Atlantic 10 Tournament record for most bases stolen by a team in a single tournament with 14, which was set my George Washington the season prior in 2024.

On a 2-1 count, the rookie Alberti hit a bases-clearing double down the third base line, doubling the Patriot lead and knocking out Wildcat starting pitcher Matt Weber for freshman right hander Simon Yochum. At the end of the three hit, two error inning, the Patriots had a 4-0 advantage over the Wildcats.

The Patriot defense shut down the Wildcat bats the following half inning, retiring Davidson in order for the second consecutive inning. Graduate student starting pitcher Sam Lavin struck out  Eli Putnam, then Alberti made a diving catch to keep Anthony Torreso off the bases. Lavin then retired the side by striking out Michael O'Shaughnessy looking.

Davidson would go out in order again in the fourth inning and Lavin collected two more strikeouts. The Wildcats would lead off the fifth inning with a single by Jouras, but the Patriot defense would get the next three batters out with a couple of Lavin strikeouts again.

With the score still 4-0 in favor of the Patriots, the Wildcats scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the seventh. Davidson began their rally when leadoff hitter Torreso singled and later advanced to second on a O'Shaughnessy productive groundout. Jouras kept the line moving with a flair single to left to move Torreso to third.

With runners on the corners and only one out, Schuchart hit a one-run single to left center, bringing the Davidson runner from third home. The Patriots got the second out of the seventh when Cotrone grounded into a fielder's choice, getting Jouras on the force out on third.

Starting pitcher Lavin would be replaced with reliever Gardner Meeks, who would get the final out of the inning with a Suarez flyout to left fielder Alberti.

Davidson's two relievers Yochum and Isaac Fix limited the damage the next 6.1 innings, only allowing one run on seven hits. The only Wildcat to record a strikeout was Fix, who had two strikeouts on the day.

The Patriots scored a crucial insurance run in the top of the ninth inning when leadoff graduate first baseman Jonny Wall hit a single and advanced to second on the pitcher's error on a failed pickoff attempt during Andrew Raymond's at-bat. With Wall in scoring position, Raymond cued a single through the let side and scored Wall to push the Patriot advantage to 5-1.

Meeks came back onto the mound in the ninth inning. After he gave up a leadoff walk to O'Shaughnessy, the Patriot defense got the force out at second when Jouras grounded into a fielder's choice at short.

Schuchart then ended the game with a double play groundout back to short. Clyne flipped the ball to second baseman Toby Hueber for the first out, who then threw it to Wall at first to end the game and eliminate the Wildcats from the tournament.

For the Patriots, Lavin (5-0) allowed one run on five hits and zero in 6.2 innings, his longest outing since March 28 at George Washington. He also struck out six Wildcats, tying his season-high that he set against the same Davidson squad at Wilson Field on May 9.  Meeks pitched the final 2.1 innings without recording a hit and struck out one batter.

For the Wildcats, starting pitcher Matt Weber (3-1) allowed four unearned runs on four hits in 2.2 innings.  Simon Yochum came in relief and pitched the next 3.1 innings and did not surrender any runs on three hits. Left hander Isaac Fix pitched the final 3.0 innings and gave up one run on four hits and recorded the only two strikeouts on the day for the Wildcats.

The Patriots will face the loser of Game 10 of the tournament, which could be No. 1 Rhode Island or No. 3 Saint Louis. The Rams and Billikens will play at 3 p.m. today.

First pitch for the Patriots will be slated for 7 p.m. this evening at Capital One Park. Follow @MasonBaseball on X/Twitter and @gmubaseball on Instagram, as well as the A-10's livestats for the latest updates on tonight's game.