This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Josh Solomon.
Up against Virginia – the No. 1 team in the nation – and playing their second game in as many days, the odds were stacked against the baseball team Wednesday.
They came in, perhaps, as even bigger underdogs than if the men’s basketball team had advanced to face the Cavaliers in the NCAA Tournament.
Despite Virginia having played back-to-back games as well, they showed no signs of fatigue, overpowering GW and winning the afternoon game, 10-0.
“They all felt that we can play with people. It’s just a matter of putting the pieces together,” head coach Gregg Ritchie said. “You come out saying, ‘There are 12 of 18 losses that are one or two run ball games that if we learn how not to make those mistakes, we’ll end up with 10 wins.’ You can’t win all of the one run games, but there’s are a lot more wins out there if you just play cleaner baseball.”
The Cavaliers offense was kept in relative check by the Colonials pitching staff, until they scrapped across four final runs in the bottom of the eighth on three hits, one error and a hit batsman.
Until that point, freshman Jordan Sheinkop had been moving along smoothly, after entering in the third inning to replace sophomore Luke Olson, who gave up four runs in the second inning.
Sheinkop gave up one run on four hits in his five innings of relief before the eighth. Ritchie said his reliever started to leave the ball up in the zone, and the confident Cavalier hitter took advantage.
“When you watch Sheinkop go out and there and get ground balls and pitch really solid, the next guy should be able to see that and go, ‘You know what, I’m going to throw the ball over the plate,’” Ritchie said.
Freshman Andrew Piccin came on and allowed three runs to come cross, first by throwing the ball away on a pickoff play. He then intentionally walked a batter to load the bases for a force play, but instead of an out, gave up an RBI single. Piccin went on to allow one more run – his only earned run – while Sheinkop finished with a line of four runs on six hits in 5.1 innings.
GW recorded six hits on the afternoon, but the offense came too late as two of the six hits came in the ninth. The Colonials also left six men on base, including runners on first and third in the final frame.
In the third, freshman shortstop Eli Kashi reached base on a bunt up the left side. He advanced to second on a ball and moved to third on a ground out, but freshman Andrew Selby struck out swinging to end the threat. The same happened for Selby in the eighth inning with runners on the corners and two outs.
“There were about four times during the game that I thought if we got a big hit we could’ve scored three or four,” Ritchie said. “You just never know what happens if you come up with that quality hit.”
The loss comes on the heels of GW’s 6-2 loss to local-rival Georgetown Tuesday. After a road game in Charlottesville, the Colonials (7-18, 1-5) will host George Mason (15-8, 3-1) this weekend for an Atlantic 10 conference matchup.
Last year GW split two non-conference games against the Patriots, but this year, the game takes on ‘added’ importance, with the battle for the Revolutionary Rivalry’s Tri-Corner Hat Trophy all tied up at six wins apiece. Ritchie said he expects a sweep and hopes for bragging rights back home in a household in which both of his kids attend George Mason.
“I’m fully pushing the buttons to say, ‘Hey, I want to be able to go home and tell my kids to shut up,” Ritchie joked.
