Going into the Tuesday night game, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County baseball team was looking to win their first season series against George Washington since the 2014 season. UMBC played at George Washington two weeks ago and pulled out a thrilling 14-12 win. UMBC would look to bounce back after losing 2 of 3 against Maine and continue their success against the Colonials this season.
After nothing was put together in the first inning, AJ Wright led off the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run to take the early 1-0 edge. George Washington was able to quickly bounce back with two runs in the top of the third inning after an RBI single and RBI walk. Raven Beeman led the fifth inning off with a second pitch double and was followed by a Matt Shatto single, leading to an Andres Machado RBI single. Blaze O’Saben hit into an RBI fielder’s choice to score Shatto, giving UMBC the 3-2 lead. UMBC pitchers Aaron Husson and Greg Albert were able to keep damage through five innings to a relative minimum after the Colonials left seven runners on base through the first five innings.
Once again, the UMBC lead would not last as George Washington bats went off in the top of the sixth inning. The Colonials went back to the keys of baseball with a sacrifice bunt, extending the count to earn a walk, and three consecutive RBI singles to tack on four runs. George Washington held the 6-3 through 6 innings.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jack Finn led the inning off with a double down the left field line. With two outs, O’Saben, Terrence Pinkston and Christian Torres all worked their way on base with a walk, with Torres drawing and bases loaded walk to close the gap to 6-4. The Retrievers left the bases loaded to end the seventh inning.
The Colonials expanded the lead to five after a Nate Fassnacht solo home run and a Derek Ripp two RBI double in the top of the eighth inning. UMBC once again would battle from a deficit after AJ Wright led the bottom of the eighth inning off with another leadoff home run. Reese Varley, who replaced Shatto at catcher after the seventh inning, converted on an RBI single to close the gap to 9-6. After Machado walked, Pinkston had a chance to tie the game up with one swing and hit into an unfortunate double play to the second basemen with the hit and run on.
This is as close as UMBC would get as the Colonials tapped two more runs on in the top of the ninth inning to win the game 11-6 and split the season series.
UMBC pitchers were unable to solve George Washington’s third and fourth hitters, Fassnacht (.431 average) and Dom D’Alessandro (.437 average), as they went a combined 8 for 10, four runs, and four RBI’s at the plate for the evening. They had eight of the Colonials’ 17 hits.
Wright blasted his third and fourth home runs of the season, adding two RBI’s.
Raven Beeman went 1 for 3, cumulating two runs.
UMBC drops to 14-14 on the season and currently sits in last place in the America East with a 2-7 conference record. UMBC will look to bounce back quickly as they head up to faceoff against the Delaware Blue Hens (11-19, 5-4 Conference) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before continuing their road trip for America East play against Albany. The Great Danes are currently 12-15 overall and sit in fourth place in the America East. UMBC will return home next Tuesday night in the “Beltway Battle” to take on Towson at 6 p.m.
