MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — George Washington was cruising along rather comfortably Saturday afternoon against University and held a 3-0 lead as the matchup at Dale Miller Field went to the home half of the fifth inning.
The Hawks battled back when they came to bat that inning and got two extra-base hits among their four in the frame to push four runs across and gain a one-run lead.
Pushed to the limit, the Class AAAA No. 3 Patriots countered back and executed well late to score twice in the sixth and once more in the seventh, rallying for a 6-4 victory to finish with a 3-0 mark in the Monongalia County Classic.
“Really, really proud of our guys to come up here and go 3-0. We dealt with some adversity and injuries and guys moving positions. We’re on the back end of our pitching staff today and nothing was easy,” GW coach Mike Davis said. “Nothing was easy this weekend. Everything we got, we had to earn, and that’s what I’m most proud of them for. Everything was really gutsy out of them. Hats off to University. They played their tails off, too, and battled back and put some pressure on us.”
Faced with the 4-3 deficit to start the sixth, GW (12-2) got a leadoff walk off Chuck Kelly and a single from Ryan Anderson to put the go-ahead run on base and move the tying run into scoring position.
Wyatt Barnett followed with a bunt single up the third base line to load the bases, and the Patriots pulled even at 4 moments later when Connor Tiano lifted a fly ball to center plenty deep enough to plate Kelly for a sacrifice fly.
A wild pitch brought courtesy runner Jack Kelly in with George Washington’s fifth run, before the Patriots turned to John Fala on the mound in the home half of the sixth.
Fala retired the Hawks (4-9) in order to preserve the one-run advantage.
GW doubled its lead with an insurance run in the seventh, one that came about as a result of a Luke Gordon sacrifice fly.
Fala retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh and the contest looked set to end when Grant Alexander sent a routine fly ball to right field that was dropped, allowing the tying run to come to the plate for UHS.
Pinch-hitter Colson Jenkins then singled to right, but Alexander was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second.
“A lot of times in that situation, the throw from the outfield is going to second base and they’re trying to keep that tying run out of scoring position. But offensively, you can draw that throw, and we tried to draw it while scoring a run and moving a guy into scoring position,” UHS coach Travis Renner said. “Hats off to their guy for making a fantastic throw and they made a good tag at the plate.”
It was a disappointing ending to what was a valiant effort from UHS, which finished with a 9-7 edge on hits.
Anderson’s solo home run in the second inning gave the Patriots the game’s first run and their advantage increased to 3-0 the next frame when one run scored on an error and another on Kelly’s single to right that enabled Eli Smith to touch home.
UHS stranded five baserunners across the first four innings, including one in scoring position in the second, third and fourth.
But the Hawks broke through in a big way in the fifth starting with consecutive walks drawn by Toby White and Noah Templeton.
Max Cash followed with a run-scoring double to left, and with a pair in scoring position, No. 3 hitter Carson Velickoff belted a two-run triple to right that tied the game at 3.
Baret Shuba’s sacrifice fly left UHS with a 4-3 advantage and its first lead, though the Hawks stranded a pair that inning as well.
“These are the games that you find out a lot about your team. We found out a lot about ourselves today,” Davis said.
Velickhoff and Alexander keyed the University offense with three hits apiece.
Joey Romeo was the Hawks’ starting pitcher and allowed three runs on three hits over 2.2 innings. Brayden Solomon spelled Romeo and took the loss after allowing three runs on four hits across 4.1 frames.
GW starting pitcher Joe Burton threw three scoreless innings. Zion Lang was charged with three runs over one inning, while Tiano allowed one run in one inning, before Fala logged a pair of scoreless innings to record the save.
Anderson had two hits and was the lone Patriot with a multi-hit effort.
“We’ve played so many tight games and one-run games,” Renner said, “and we’ve told our guys, the more of these games we play in, the better you’re going to be later in the season.”