George Washington University Athletics
Wednesday, May 8
Charlottesville, VA
1 p.m.
George Washington University
at
Virginia
Baseball Eyes Final Non-Conference Matchup of 2024
5/7/2024 1:35:00 PM | Baseball
WASHINGTON – Following a thrilling series win over VCU last weekend, the George Washington baseball team sets its sights on the final non-conference game of the 2024 season. The Revolutionaries travel to Charlottesville to take on 10th-ranked Virginia at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Live stats for the matchup will be available on GWsports.com and live coverage will be available on the ACC Network.
LAST TIME OUT
After falling behind by three in the bottom of the eighth inning, GW erupted for eight runs in the ninth to defeat VCU in the series rubber match, 11-6.
Entering the ninth trailing by three, Alexander Wright was hit by a pitch to put one runner on for Tuffy. He proceeded to rip his second home run of the season over the right field wall to bring GW within one run at 6-5. One batter later, Conlon Walker recorded a pinch-hit double down the left field line to put the tying run in scoring position. That was all DiTomaso needed as he shot a double down the left field line to trade places with Walker and knot the game at six apiece.
GW wasn't done there, one batter later Brett Young tallied an RBI single to left field to score DiTomaso and give the Buff & Blue a 7-6 lead. Later in the inning, Tim Nicholson reached base on a fielding error by VCU's second baseman, scoring Ellis Schwartz and Young to push GW's lead to 9-6. Wright, who led off the ninth inning for GW, came up clutch again with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field, to cap GW's eight-run inning. GDUB tallied its eight runs on seven hits in the frame, the most runs GW has scored in a single inning this season. Sporting a five-run lead, Max Haug stepped onto the mound in the ninth inning and secured the victory for the Buff & Blue. Haug was credited with the win, moving him to 3-1 on the season.
RITCHIE NEARS NEW MILESTONE
With two wins over the weekend at VCU, head coach Gregg Ritchie is now at 298 victories and two away from eclipsing 300 for his career at GW. Ritchie became GW baseball's all-time wins leader as head coach earlier this season when he surpassed Tom Walter, who tallied 275 wins from 1997-04. Ritchie, who's in his 12th season with the Buff & Blue, will become the first coach in GW baseball history to reach 300 wins with the program, and has the chance to lead GW to its first 30-win season since 2019 and the fifth during his time as head of the program.
DITOMASO KEEPS CLIMBING THE RANKS
With his second hit in game two of Friday's doubleheader at VCU, DiTomaso once again moved up the GW all-time hit list, this time surpassing Joey Bartosic for third. DiTomaso now has 284 hits in his five-year career, needing just seven more to pass Mike Bassett for second in program history. DiTomaso has seven more regular season games to accomplish the feat and would need 16 hits in those seven games to pass Tom Zebroski for the program record.
SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
Virginia welcomes GW to Disharoon Park as the 10th-ranked team in this week's D1Baseball.com Top 25. The Cavaliers are 35-12 on the year and enter the game well-rested after having seven days off leading up to Wednesday's contest. Virginia is currently riding a four-game win streak with victories over Navy, VCU, and two against Boston College. Earlier this season, the Revolutionaries hosted UVA at Tucker Field on March 6. The Cavaliers came away victorious in a rainy 26-12 win. Virginia is led by Brian O'Conner, who's in his 21st season at the helm of the program. He's amassed a record of 874-365-2 during his time in Charlottesville and was just recently announced as a 2024 inductee into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame.
On the field, the UVA offense is led by Bobby Whalen with a .391 batting average on 45 hits. He's scored 28 runs on the year and has nine extra-base hits including seven doubles, one triple and one home run. His .486 on-base percentage is tops on the squad and he's driven home 26 RBI. Griff O'Ferrall is the team leader in hits this season with 69. His .319 batting average is one of eight on the team that's above .300, and he ranks fourth on the squad with 42 RBI. On the mound, Evan Blanco is the team leader is innings with 61.2. He also leads UVA with 66 strikeouts, and he holds a 5-3 record on the year. The Cavaliers will throw Bryson Moore on Wednesday against GW. Moore has a 2-0 record in five appearances this season. His ERA sits at 1.64 and he's allowed two earned runs in 11 total innings.
LAST TIME OUT
After falling behind by three in the bottom of the eighth inning, GW erupted for eight runs in the ninth to defeat VCU in the series rubber match, 11-6.
Entering the ninth trailing by three, Alexander Wright was hit by a pitch to put one runner on for Tuffy. He proceeded to rip his second home run of the season over the right field wall to bring GW within one run at 6-5. One batter later, Conlon Walker recorded a pinch-hit double down the left field line to put the tying run in scoring position. That was all DiTomaso needed as he shot a double down the left field line to trade places with Walker and knot the game at six apiece.
GW wasn't done there, one batter later Brett Young tallied an RBI single to left field to score DiTomaso and give the Buff & Blue a 7-6 lead. Later in the inning, Tim Nicholson reached base on a fielding error by VCU's second baseman, scoring Ellis Schwartz and Young to push GW's lead to 9-6. Wright, who led off the ninth inning for GW, came up clutch again with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field, to cap GW's eight-run inning. GDUB tallied its eight runs on seven hits in the frame, the most runs GW has scored in a single inning this season. Sporting a five-run lead, Max Haug stepped onto the mound in the ninth inning and secured the victory for the Buff & Blue. Haug was credited with the win, moving him to 3-1 on the season.
RITCHIE NEARS NEW MILESTONE
With two wins over the weekend at VCU, head coach Gregg Ritchie is now at 298 victories and two away from eclipsing 300 for his career at GW. Ritchie became GW baseball's all-time wins leader as head coach earlier this season when he surpassed Tom Walter, who tallied 275 wins from 1997-04. Ritchie, who's in his 12th season with the Buff & Blue, will become the first coach in GW baseball history to reach 300 wins with the program, and has the chance to lead GW to its first 30-win season since 2019 and the fifth during his time as head of the program.
DITOMASO KEEPS CLIMBING THE RANKS
With his second hit in game two of Friday's doubleheader at VCU, DiTomaso once again moved up the GW all-time hit list, this time surpassing Joey Bartosic for third. DiTomaso now has 284 hits in his five-year career, needing just seven more to pass Mike Bassett for second in program history. DiTomaso has seven more regular season games to accomplish the feat and would need 16 hits in those seven games to pass Tom Zebroski for the program record.
SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
Virginia welcomes GW to Disharoon Park as the 10th-ranked team in this week's D1Baseball.com Top 25. The Cavaliers are 35-12 on the year and enter the game well-rested after having seven days off leading up to Wednesday's contest. Virginia is currently riding a four-game win streak with victories over Navy, VCU, and two against Boston College. Earlier this season, the Revolutionaries hosted UVA at Tucker Field on March 6. The Cavaliers came away victorious in a rainy 26-12 win. Virginia is led by Brian O'Conner, who's in his 21st season at the helm of the program. He's amassed a record of 874-365-2 during his time in Charlottesville and was just recently announced as a 2024 inductee into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame.
On the field, the UVA offense is led by Bobby Whalen with a .391 batting average on 45 hits. He's scored 28 runs on the year and has nine extra-base hits including seven doubles, one triple and one home run. His .486 on-base percentage is tops on the squad and he's driven home 26 RBI. Griff O'Ferrall is the team leader in hits this season with 69. His .319 batting average is one of eight on the team that's above .300, and he ranks fourth on the squad with 42 RBI. On the mound, Evan Blanco is the team leader is innings with 61.2. He also leads UVA with 66 strikeouts, and he holds a 5-3 record on the year. The Cavaliers will throw Bryson Moore on Wednesday against GW. Moore has a 2-0 record in five appearances this season. His ERA sits at 1.64 and he's allowed two earned runs in 11 total innings.
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