This post was written by Hatchet senior staff writer Josh Solomon.

Opposing pitcher Tyler Zombro entered the game with a 1-6 record and a 7.09 ERA.

Entering the fifth inning, the George Mason junior was throwing a perfect game.

GW senior Bobby LeWarne had matched Zombro to that point in the Atlantic 10 series opener – although it was a little more stressful.

In the top half of the fifth, with one out, LeWarne had a runner on third, after a failed pickoff attempt. He struck out the two-hitter. Then a brief mound visit by his catcher and first baseman, junior Bobby Campbell, calmed LeWarne down before he faced the Patriots’ top hitter. LeWarne struck him out looking on his go-to change up.

“I ran back to the dugout and told everybody, ‘That’s what momentum is supposed to feel like,’” head coach Gregg Ritchie said. “Understand, that’s momentum…And you need to take that momentum with energy right here now, and find a way to score one run.’”

Lead off the fifth inning at the plate, Campbell then had a meeting of his own. He had just showed his disgust with a pitch call that put him down in the count two strikes to none.

Third base coach Dave Lorber yelled ‘time’ to the umpire and called Campbell over. Entering the game, the Colonials cleanup hitter was batting .607 in his last six games.

Campbell slashed the 0-2 pitch the opposite way, down the right field line for a standup double. Pumped up he motioned to the dugout and it seemed GW was poised for a potent inning.

“Relief,” Campbell said. “Just…thankful that he left one over.”

With one out and Campbell on third, junior Andrew Selby tried to execute the suicide squeeze. He popped it up to the catcher. Campbell scrambled back to third, already half way down the line. Selby couldn’t get him in, but junior Cody Bryant could, on a two-strike two-out double to right center.

“They’re thinking they’re winning and I’m like, ‘Nah.’ Just double. Thought it was cool, man. I was pumped up, everyone was pumped up,” Bryant said.

That would be all the Colonials (4-3) would need, winning the opener against George Mason (2-8) 1-0, Friday afternoon at The Tuck.

LeWarne would earn his fifth win of the season, improving to 5-2 on the year. His final line would read: 6.0 innings, five hits, no runs, three walks and six strikeouts on 104 pitches. It was a relatively short outing for LeWarne, but it did the job.

“I’ve got a lot of practice,” LeWarne said. “I’m a little old now, but tough situations you just got to stay calm and make your pitches.”

GW bridged the rest of the game with what has become its set-up-to-closer combo of freshman Justin Friedman and junior Eddie Muhl.

Friedman walked the leadoff batter in the seventh, and eventually escaped a bases loaded jam with two outs facing George Mason’s cleanup hitter. In the eighth, Friedman was replaced by Muhl after walking the leadoff batter a second time.

Muhl stranded the one runner but continued the trend to start the ninth by throwing a lead off walk. A failed pickoff attempt allowed the runner to move to second, and a fly ball moved him 90 feet from tying the game.

Muhl worked the count full against the Patriots’ top hitter. He hit a line drive to left but it was caught on a diving grab to end the game.

Muhl, who entered the series tied for ninth in country in saves, picked up his ninth of the season Friday to lock up the win.

The sinking line drive to left field was caught by sophomore Mark Osis in his first day back from a hamstring injury sustained the week before the A-10 opener.

“Osis back is huge,” Ritchie said. “He made four fantastic plays. Very aware out there.”

The team had missed his bat in the two A-10 series without him. Osis was leading the Colonials in most offensive categories, highlighted by his .389 batting average. The left fielder went 1-3 on the day, but showed his value from the two diving catches, one in the third and one in the ninth to save the game, in addition to a couple well played balls down the left field line.

The other main injured Colonial, junior Kevin Mahala, was the team’s designated hitter on the day. Still battling back from a hip flexor injury, Mahala may be able to return to shortstop Sunday.

The final box score is not particularly pretty: one run, three hits and two errors, but GW got the win and will head into Saturday with a chance to clinch the series.

“That’s one you haven’t seen all year,” Ritchie said. “A situation like that where our pitching comes up big and we do the right things. Yeah, it got a little hairy at the end with the error on the throw over, but the bullpen coming in and essentially slamming the door was pretty decent.”