Craig LeJeune was standing next to the dugout after the doubleheader.
The last time he stood under the lights like this, GW had ended its postseason run in the conference tournament semifinals which the team hosted at home.
On Saturday, LeJeune stood there wearing a sleek, fitted blue suit with a sharp red tie and un-scuffed brown leather shoes. His hair was slicked back, not under a ball cap.
He joked how he wished he could still pitch. The now-graduated redshirt senior was last year’s setup man, setting up the nation’s top regular season closer in Eddie Muhl.
LeJeune spent the evening high-fiving and shaking his old teammates’ hands after the game, as they somewhat solemnly headed to the parking lot.
GW had lost both games of a doubleheader with Cal State University, Northridge – both lost by a bullpen that has given up over half of the Colonials’ runs scored this year.
In over six and a half hours of baseball Saturday, GW sputtered with late leads – dropping the first game 4-2 and the second game 6-5, in 11 innings.
“Bottom line is we have given away games by our bullpens not anteing up,” head coach Gregg Ritchie said after the two games. “Pitchers not going out there and throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count and burying somebody. Having enough guts and you-know-whats to go out there and get it done. And we’re consistently not doing it. It’s not just one day, it’s every single day.”
The issue has been wholesale.
Junior Eddie Muhl, last year’s star closer, has been anything but outstanding. In five games, he has a 6.00 ERA, allowing 11 hits, five runs, four earned and five walks, while striking out six and two saves.
Saturday night Muhl blew the save, but not all to his own fault. He came in the eighth to record a four out save, since the bullpen is down five pitchers because of injuries and is pitching short-changed. Muhl has not had the team’s best defense while he’s been on the mound.
Junior third baseman Cody Bryant cost him an easy out and likely double play in the ninth with a runner on. With the extra out, CSUN plated the tying run to force extra innings in the nightcap.
“You know it’s been a little bit of bad luck,” said Muhl explaining what’s different from last year for him. “Some unfortunate bounces for them. I don’t think anything has really changed. Just trying to continue to do what I do. That’s all you can really do, control what you can.”
Again, the Colonials couldn’t close out a game they were in a position to win. In the first game freshman Jordan Friedman came in the eighth – after senior starting pitcher Bobby LeWarne went seven innings with two runs on 128 pitches.
First, the leadoff batter chopped one down the first baseline. Junior Bobby Campbell tried fielding the in-between hop, hopping over the first base bag, and booted the ball to allow the runner on.
As Ritchie explained: “Bobby’s debacle of trying to bumble-bull-ride a ball. All you had to do was stand there and go like this,” he explained, putting his glove out. “‘Hey, here you go.’ Which is what opened the floodgates in that first game. It’s just a little anxiousness in those situations. Just play the game straight up. Be easy.”
Soon enough CSUN singled in the base runner to take a permanent lead.
“It’s not the bullpen. Everyone else has to be better,” junior shortstop Kevin Mahala said. “The infield defense has to be better. Everyone – it all works together. Pitchers pick us up when we’re not doing well. We pick up the pitchers when they’re struggling. It’s not necessarily just them.”
Mahala had one or two miscues in the field, but nothing significant. He did have a fairly strong day at the plate. He changed the feel of the first game. With the Colonials down one in the first inning, he drove a 2-0 waist-high pitch over the left center field fence to put GW up 2-1. That marks Mahala’s second home run on the season, and another one for the shortstop against CSUN, who homered against them last year in California.
He also drove in three runs in the second game, two on ground outs and one on an RBI double to right center in the seventh inning, which looked to be an important insurance run at the time.
Sophomore Mark Osis also had a good day at the plate, going 5-5 in the second game. He scored three runs and drove in one on the day, and would have scored a fourth – and the game winning run – if not called out on an odd inning-ending double play in the bottom of the ninth of the second game.
With runners on first and second with one out, junior Bobby Campbell grounded the ball to the shortstop, who got the forceout at second and then tried for the double play at first base, but Campbell beat it out. Osis, who led off the inning with a single, tried scoring from second, but a well-executed throw from first to home nailed Osis at the plate, just ahead of his head first, hook slide.
GW would lose the first game in the bullpen in the eighth, after the misplay by Campbell with Friedman in, following a strong outing by LeWarne, who buckled down after a shaky first inning against CSUN.
The Colonials would lose the second game in the 11th inning, after sophomore Jordan Sheinkop gave up a leadoff walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt, succeeded by a wild pitch to the backstop. The fly ball pitcher ultimately gave up a sacrifice fly, which would be the winning run of the game and clinching run of the series.
Sunday at noon, GW will finish the series against CSUN. Last year they won one of three games over in California. This year they hope to match the same win total after a bad taste in their mouths from two games that were near wins.
“We left them off the hook today,” Mahala said. “But we’ll be back tomorrow.”
