University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
George Washington- A-10 Championship Final
Baseball Falls To George Washington, 6-4, Loses A-10 Championship Series
05/25/2002 | Baseball
May 25, 2002
RICHMOND, VA - Jake Wald's two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth gave George Washington a 6-4 win over Richmond to win the the best-of-three Championship Round of the Verizon Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship at Pitt Field in Richmond, VA.
The Colonials (42-21) earn the Atlantic 10's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Pairings will be announced on Monday at 12:30pm. The Spiders are 49-10.
With Travis Crowder on board with a one-out walk, Wald blasted a two-run home run to right centerfield to lead the Colonials to their fourth Atlantic 10 title and first since 1992. Mike O'Connor, who pitched three scoreless inning of relief, earned the win to raise his record to 4-2. Justin Orenduff threw a perfect ninth to earn his first save of the season. Jason Bolinski took the loss and falls to 3-3.
For the third straight game, the Colonials got on the board first. In the bottom half of the first inning, George Washington loaded the bases with two outs as Richmond starter Mike McGirr walked Matt Krimmel and Championship Most Outstanding Player Mike Bassett and hit Jeff Fertitta. Joe Michalski then grounded to short where Matt Craig booted the ball, enabling Krimmel to score and give the Colonials a 1-0 lead.
The Colonials plated another run in the bottom of the second when Wald hit a bloop single to center that just eluded the outstretched glove of Bryan Pritz and fell to drive in Tony Brown with George Washington's second run.
The Spiders responded with a pair of runs in the top of third. Pritz led off the inning with a double down the left field line. David Reaver then got an infield hit off the foot of George Washington starter Dennis Gramolini. Gramolini recovered but his throw to first was wide and Pritz rounded third and scored. With two out, Adam Tidball singled off the glove of Gramolini to bring in Reaver and knot the score at 2-2.
Richmond took the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth. A.J. Board stroked a one-out single and was sacrificed to second by John Cronin. At that point, Colonials' head coach Tom Walter brought in Dan Sullivan to relieve Gramolini. Sullivan was greeted by a single by back-to-back singles by Pritz and Reaver which put the Spiders up, 4-2.
Bassett swatted his third home run of the three-game series to tie the game at 4-4. With Krimmel on board with a lead-off walk, Bassett belted Tim Rice's pitch over the centerfield fence. Rice, who came on the previous inning to strike out Wald, was then lifted for Bolinski.
Joining Bassett on the All-Championship team are teammates Jeff Fertitta, Joe Michalski, Justin Orenduff, and Jake Wald; Richmond's Thomas Martin, David Reaver, Adam Tidball; Kevin Ryan of St. Bonaventure; Temple's Mike Weckenman; and Adam Jahnsen of Xavier.
ALL-CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
George Washington - Mike Bassett
George Washington - Jeff Fertitta
Xavier - Adam Jahnsen
Richmond - Thomas Martin
George Washington - Joe Michalski
George Washington - Justin Orenduff
Richmond - David Reaver
St. Bonaventure - Kevin Ryan
Richmond - Tim Stauffer
Richmond - Adam Tidball
George Washington - Jake Wald
Temple - Mike Weckenman
Most Outstanding Player
George Washington - Mike Bassett
VERIZON ATLANTIC 10 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Preliminary Rounds - Norwich, CT
Thursday, May 16
Game 1 Temple 6, Xavier 2
Game 2 George Washington 8, Dayton 2
Game 3 Xavier 8, Dayton 0
Friday, May 17
Game 4 Richmond 5, Temple 3
Game 5 GW 7, SBU 6 (12 inn.)
Game 6 Temple 2, Xavier 1
Saturday, May 18
Richmond 6, George Washington 4
St. Bonaventure 5, Temple 2
Sunday, May 19
George Washington 5, St. Bonaventure 4
CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
Pitt Field - University of Richmond
Thursday, May 23
George Washington 6, Richmond 4 (10 inn.)
Friday, May 24
Richmond 12, George Washington 5
Saturday, May 25
George Washington 6, Richmond 4
