RICHMOND, Va. – Piloted by a slew of elite pitching performances along with some timely hitting throughout the day, sixth-seeded George Mason ran the gauntlet in the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship final against No. 4 overall Saint Louis, dispatching the undefeated Billikens in back-to-back do-or-die contests en route to the program's second-ever title Saturday afternoon at The Diamond.
Victory in hand, the Patriots secure the league's automatic bid into the upcoming NCAA Tournament, set to begin Friday, June 2 at the 16 regional sites around the nation. Mason will learn its regional destination during the NCAA Baseball Selection Show on Monday, May 29 at noon ET, live coverage via ESPN2.
The All-Champioship team, composed of the top performers from across all seven qualifying squads at the tournament, featured Davidson's Jake Wilhoit, Dayton's Marcos Pujols and Paxton Tomaini, Richmond's Johnny Hipsman, Saint Joseph's Ryan DeSanto, Saint Louis' Tyler Fogarty, Hayden Moore and Cole Smith and Mason's Chad Gartland, Kyle Menaker, South Trimble and Reece Woody.
Gartland, who tossed 9.2 innings of action across two appearances during the championship, earned recognition as the Most Outstanding Performer, finishing with a 2.79 ERA and .257 opposing batting average with nine strikeouts and a save.
GAME ONE
A shutdown outing from Kyle Menaker (W, 1-1) across 7.0 full frames allowed the Patriots to comfortably work their small ball approach, chipping away at the SLU pitching with 11 total hits. The Billikens jumped out to an early advantage in the second inning, scoring one run on a Cameron Swanger RBI single, but a four-run push in the fourth proved the difference for Mason down the stretch.
A Jordan Smith sac fly plated Trimble initially, knotting the game at one run apiece. Reece Woody and Alex Knapp proceeded to drop singles in left field later in the frame, doubling the lead to two via the former before the latter doubled up again wtih a pair of RBI.
Menaker and reliever Ben Shields (SV, 1) took over from that point on, as the former surrendered just five hits and the one run during his tenure while the latter gave up zero hits with just one lone baserunner off a walk.
GAME TWO
The winner-take-all second matchup featured a similar tone throughout compared to its predecessor, as the Patriots and Saint Louis traded leads back and forth across the opening frames. This time, Mason struck first off a Jordan Smith RBI double, tacking on run in the first for the early lead. The Billikens battled back near immediately in the second as Swanger continued his strong day, posting an RBI double of his own to tie up the contest.
Swanger returned in the fourth with deep RBI single to short, granting SLU a lead for the first time since early in the day's opening matchup.
The sixth, however, were headlined by a few Billiken errors, as a trio opened the door for George Mason generate the eventual game-tying and -winning runs. A Woody single into left was mishandled by the SLU outfielder, giving Jordan Smith an opportunity to slide home and knot the matchup. Soon after, Brett Stallings reached on an error due to the shortstop, sending Woody home for the go-ahead run as well.
Not backing down, the Patriots added one more insurance score in the eighth and a pair in the ninth to solidify their lead with Stallings, Derek Wood and Connor Dykstra garnering RBI.
Saint Louis ace Jackson Holmes (L, 3-2) took the loss following 7.1 effective frames, allowing just two earned runs on six hits with a trio of strikeouts.
For Mason utilized the duo of Logan Rumberg and Owen Stewart (W, 2-2) to lock down the victory, as the former tossed 4.0 innings with two runs given up on six hits before the latter closed the door with 5.0 frames of work, surrendering zero runs on two hits.