GAME DAY LINKS:
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL |
ESPN+ |
LIVE STATS |
BRACKET |
GAME NOTES
TYSONS, Va. – The George Mason baseball team's 2026 season came to an end Friday evening under the lights of a rainy Capital One Field, as the top-seeded Saint Joseph's Hawks defeated the No. 4 Patriots, 14-4.
The Patriots (30-26, 18-12 A-10) finish the season with at least 30 wins for the third time in four seasons.
George Mason, the designated away team in Friday evening's game, struck first in the top of the second inning, attacking early in the pitch count. After four pitches from Hawk starter Cole Fehrman (W, 5-3), the Patriots had already brought up four batters and scored the first run.
Leadoff hitter
Luciano Terilli was hit by a pitch on the first delivery from Fehrman. Up next was
Jake Butler, who laid down an infield bunt single on the first pitch he saw. After subsequent Patriot batter
Julius Bagnerise laid a sacrifice bunt on his first pitch to advance Terilli and Butler 90 feet,
Evan Blanchard laid a first-pitch RBI bunt single that scored Terilli.
The Hawks (36-19, 25-5 A-10) leveled the game in the bottom of the second. With runners on second and third and only one out, Tim Dickinson grounded out to Butler at first but was deep enough to drive Richard Beggy from third. That would be the only run surrendered by the Patriots, as Saint Joseph's Alex Venezia hit a flyout to right fielder
Matthew Westley on a spectacular outstretched grab while hitting the wall.
George Mason retook the lead the following half inning.
Lucas Alberti hit a two-out double to left and was subsequently driven in by Terilli's RBI single up the middle on the first pitch he saw.
In the bottom of the third, Hawk sophomore centerfielder Alex Kelsey got on base with a two-out single up the middle, but the Patriots got out of the inning by picking Kelsey off thanks to Patriot first baseman Butler's hidden ball trick. After starting pitcher Aidan Parker (L, 3-1) threw over to first to keep Kelsey at bay, Butler pretended to lose control of the ball, prompting Kelsey to leave the bag and head towards second. Once the Hawk stepped off, Butler applied the tag to end the inning.
After the Patriots were held to a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, the Hawks took the lead by putting up three runs.
The first three Hawks got on base by a Blake Primrose single, Beggy five-pitch walk and a Joey Pagano single, loading the bases with nobody out. Parker was knocked out of the game, and Patriot reliever
Jake Drumm inherited the three Hawks.
Drumm's first batter, Jason Janesko, reached on a fielder's choice, getting Pagano out on a forceout but scoring Primrose from third. After Janesko stole second base to prevent a double play opportunity for the Patriots, Tim Dickinson recorded an RBI groundout to score Beggy from third. Venezia knocked in the final run of the frame with a single up the middle that scored Janesko from third. The three-run, three-hit inning ended with a Carson Applegate popout to Patriot second baseman Bagnerise.
George Mason got one run back the following half inning. In the top of the fifth, leadoff hitter Vaughan drew a walk and later advanced to second on a Morse single to shallow right. Hawk right fielder Janesko committed a fielding error on the play, allowing Vaughan to advance to third. Clyne then lifted a sacrifice flyout to left on his first pitch to bring Vaughan home.
The Hawks, for the second consecutive inning, loaded the bases with nobody out and made the Patriots pay by scoring two more runs. Joey Gale led off with a single, followed by a Kelsey four-pitch walk and a Primrose single. Drumm was then replaced by the Patriots next reliever,
Owen Stewart.
Next to bat for Saint Joseph's was Beggy, who hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left, scoring Gale. Pagano then reloaded the bases by drawing a walk on a full count. Janesko drove in the next run with a fielder's choice deep into third, where Morse touched the third base bag for his only out while Kelsey scored. At the end of the inning, Saint Joseph's took a 6-3 lead.
The Patriots answered again in the top of the sixth, but they only scored one run due to some unlucky ball placement. Leadoff hitter Terilli launched his first home run of the season on an opposite field strike over the left center field wall. Butler then was hit by pitch and advanced to second on a Bagnerise ground out.
Up next was Blanchard, who laced a hot shot past the pitcher's mound toward short, but the ball hydroplaned over the puddle by the mound and redirected towards the running Butler. The ball hit Butler and was ruled a dead ball out. That unlucky bounce proved costly, as Vaughan, the next Patriot batter, hit a single out of the infield. With runners on first and second, the final out of the inning was an unassisted forceout by Hawk third baseman Beggy during Westley's at-bat.
The Hawk offense lit up in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four runs off two two-run home runs – both on two outs.
After Stewart made quick work of the first two Hawks with back-to-back strikeouts, Gale reached on a first-pitch single. Kelsey then hit a homer to right to extend the Hawk lead, 8-4. After Primrose drew a walk on a full count, Beggy hit a no-doubter over the left field wall, extending the lead once again to 10-4.
Tensions flared between the two teams, and it resulted in an ejection from the Saint Joseph dugout. After Pagano was hit by pitch on a 2-0 count, Stewart finished the inning by recording his third strikeout of the inning against Janesko.
While the Patriots were unable to get anything going in the top of the seventh, the Hawks put together another four-run inning in the bottom half. Once again, the Hawks loaded the bases with nobody out, and Gale hit a two-run single through the left side. After a flyout and a Primrose four-pitch walk, Pagano and Janesko drew back-to-back bases loaded walks to score the game's final two runs.
Fehrman then retired the final six Patriots in order over the following two innings, earning himself this tournament's first complete game.
