THOMAS’ GEM LEADS RAMS PAST 25TH-RANKED GEORGE MASON, 4-3
Southpaw allows just one earned run in 8.1 innings of work
RICHMOND, Va. – Coming into the weekend, the Virginia Commonwealth University baseball team knew it would have to pitch well in order to have a chance against the 25th-ranked Patriots of George Mason University.
Friday night at The Diamond, that pitching was front and center. Behind an outstanding effort from senior southpaw Ian Thomas (Virginia Beach, Va.), the Rams nailed down a 4-3 home victory over Mason in front of a good crowd on a beautiful night for baseball in Richmond.
“Ian was tremendous tonight,” Head Coach Paul Keyes said. “If we continue to get these types of efforts from him and the other guys on this staff, we’re going to set ourselves up well for the stretch run to the CAA Tournament.”
The win is the seventh in the past nine games for the Rams, who improve to 18-12 and 6-4 in conference action. George Mason, who entered the weekend with the nation’s highest winning percentage, dropped to 28-7 and 9-4 in Colonial Athletic Association contests.
Junior Andrew Dimino (Greenwood, Ind.) continued his hot streak at the top of the Black & Gold lineup with a leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning. After a stolen base moved him to second and classmate Doug Otto (Jefferson City, Mo.) drew a walk, senior Justin Wright (Yorktown, Va.) crushed a single up the middle to plate Dimino and stake VCU to a 1-0 advantage.
One batter later, redshirt sophomore Joe Van Meter (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) lofted a sacrifice fly to deep right field to plate Otto and extend the Rams’ lead to 2-0.
Mason would capitalize on a VCU miscue in the top of the third as a throw was dropped on a potential inning-ending double play. Four pitches later, Scott Krieger launched a two-run home run over the left field wall to even the score at 2-2.
Senior R.J. Schenk (Yorktown, Va.) got the crowd going again with a 10-pitch battle with Mason starter Kevin Crum that resulted in a leadoff walk in the home half of the third. After a groundout moved him to second, Justin Wright reached on an infield single and an errant throw allowed Schenk to scamper around from second and reclaim the lead, 3-2, in VCU’s favor.
A leadoff double by Mark Hill in the top of the fourth resulted in an RBI groundout by Brent Weiss and another tie score at 3-3.
The relentless Rams got the run right back when senior Carlos Rodriguez (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) sent a double into the left-centerfield gap and came home to score two batters later on a sacrifice fly from junior Richard Gonzalez (Caguas, Puerto Rico) to claim a 4-3 advantage in the bottom of the fourth.
It was a game of hurlers from then on with the two teams notching just seven hits combined over the final four and a half innings of play thanks to stellar pitching from Thomas and Crum.
Mason would try to rally in the ninth when Spencer Wiggins collected a one-out single and Chris Henderson reached on a walk to put two runners on with one out and the middle of the Patriot order coming up.
Redshirt sophomore Aaron Morgan (Sutherland, Va.) did his job getting Krieger to fly out and Bour to pop out to secure the 4-3 victory and pick up his third save of the year.
“That was big for us,” Keyes said. “We’ve had a lot of guys pitch in a lot of different roles and we’ve known all along Aaron could close games for us. That’s why we went to him there and he locked down a big win.”
The story was Thomas (3-2), who tossed a career-high 8.1 innings, scattering nine hits and allowing just one earned run, while striking out seven. Crum was saddled with just his third loss of the season, allowing four earned in six innings of work.
Offensively, Dimino and Wright both went 2-for-4 on the evening with Dimino scoring a run and Wright driving in one.
The two teams will square off in game two of the series on Saturday afternoon at The Diamond. Game time is set for 2 p.m