George Washington University Athletics
Baseball Eliminates Dayton and UMass From A-10 Tournament
5/18/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2001
Baseball Eliminates Dayton and UMass From A-10 Tournament Jason Baker and Ron Christie Shine in Friday's Sweep
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL (May 18, 2001) - Junior Jason Baker (Accokeek, MD/ DeMatha) pitched seven innings of four hit ball in game one against Dayton and senior Ron Christie (Lincroft, NJ/ Middletown H.S. South) pitched seven innings of one-run ball against Massachusetts in game two to help the Colonials eliminate both the Flyers and Minutemen today, May 18, in the 2001 Verizon Atlantic 10 Tournament in Lake Buena Vista, FL. GW defeated Dayton, 11-10, this afternoon and then defeated the Minutemen, 9-1, this evening. With the victories the Colonials tie a school-record for victories in a season with 37 and give themselves a chance to capture GW's first Atlantic 10 Championship since 1992. The Colonials will have to defeat Temple twice tomorrow in order to capture the championship.
In game one, Baker was overpowering in his seven innings of work. The righthander allowed one run on four hits and struck out eight while not walking a batter. He left with a 5-1 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh the Colonials extended their lead to 9-1. After scoring their first run of the inning on a Dayton error, senior Dan Rouhier (McLean, VA/ St. Alban's) doubled to make it 7-1. After junior Mike Bassett (Paramus, NJ/ Paramus) flied out to center field, sophomore Chris Barry (Orchard Park, NY/ Canisius) homered to make it 9-1 and it looked like the Colonials were going to easily move on.
However, the Flyers rallied for four runs in the eighth on a grand slam by left fielder Brooks Vogel to cut the lead to 9-5. After GW scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to push the lead to 11-5, the Flyers staged one last rally. The Flyers cut the lead to 11-10 on an RBI groundout and three singles and had the bases loaded with two outs before senior Bryan Beggs (Somerset, PA/ Somerset) retired pinch hitter Cory Allen to record his 10th save of the season and allow the Colonials to advance.
After UMass lost to Temple, 6-3, in the second game of the day, the Minutemen had to turn right around and play a somewhat rested GW team who was seeking revenge from their opening round defeat at the hands of the Minutemen in Thursday's opening round.
The Colonials jumped out to a 3-1 lead after two innings courtesy of a Rouhier sacrifice fly, an RBI single by sophomore Jake Wald (Alexandria, VA/ T.C. Williams) and an RBI fielder's choice by junior Matt Krimmel (Schnecksville, PA/ Parkland). The Colonials added two runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth as they pounded out 16 hits to eliminate the Minutemen.
Christie took care of the rest. The senior from New Jersey improved to 7-1 on the season as he pitched six innings allowing one run on six hits while striking out two. Junior Mike O'Connor (Ellicott City, MD/ Mt. St. Joe's) relieved Christie and pitched three innings of shutout baseball to earn his first career save.
The Colonials now move on to face the Temple Owls in Saturday's final. The first game is at 12:30 p.m. and if the Colonials defeat the Owls in game one, the two teams will play a winner take all game 30 minutes following the first.
