George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Richmond
Baseball Shut Out by Richmond, 1-0
3/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 2008
RICHMOND, VA - Richmond pitchers Matt Zielinski and Alex Hale combined to hold George Washington to just five hits as they shutout the Colonials, 1-0, Saturday afternoon in the second game of their three-game Atlantic 10 Conference series at Pitt Field in Richmond, VA.
A day after the two teams combined for 26 runs and 27 hits on Friday, the Colonials (13-10, 3-2 A-10) and the Spiders (12-13-1, 4-1 A-10) finished with a total of just one run on 10 hits. Yesterday's game took 3:34 to complete; today's game was finished in less than two hours.
GW freshman pitcher Eric Cantrell (Oakton, VA/Oakton) suffered the loss, despite striking out eight. He held the Spiders, who entered the weekend third in the A-10 with a team batting average of .321 and second with 176 runs scored, to just one run as he scattered five hits in eight innings.
In the bottom of the third inning, Richmond pushed across the game's only run to claim an early 1-0 lead that would eventually prove to be the game-winner. With runners on second and third and one out, leftfielder Ryan Metzroth grounded out to first. GW's Tim Reeves (Cumming, GA/North Forsyth) took the play himself and stepped on the bag for the force out, allowing the run to score. Eric Cantrell struck out the next batter to avoid further damage.
The Colonials threatened in the top of the seventh, putting two runners in scoring position with just one out, but Richmond reliever Alex Hale entered the game and quickly slammed the door shut on the GW rally with a pair of strikeouts. Hale retired all eight batters he faced, five via the punch-out, as he pitched a perfect 2.2 innings.
Saturday's contest marks just the second time the Colonials have been shut out this season. They lost to Oakland (MI), 7-0, on Mar. 9.
George Washington and Richmond complete their three-game A-10 series Sunday, Mar. 30, at 1:00 p.m.
- GW -
