Baseball Claims First-Ever Atlantic 10 Regular Season Title with 13-6 Win at George Mason

The Hawks clinched their historic achievement with a 13-6 win over George Mason at Spuhler Field on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• George Mason (29-24 overall, 13-10 Atlantic 10) took the lead two pitches into the first inning as South Trimble led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch.

• Saint Joseph's (27-22-1 overall, 17-7 Atlantic 10) responded with a four-spot in the second. Ryan Weingartner and Luke Zimmerman drew walks to start the inning before advancing on a wild pitch. Max Hitman followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

• Brett Callahan and Conlan Wall then hit consecutive RBI doubles to give the Hawks a lead before a Ryan Cesarini single made it a 4-1 game.

• A wild pitch in the third brought Weingartner home before Callahan scored on a groundout by Cesarini to make it a 6-1 game in the fourth.

• The Hawks seemingly blew things open in the fifth as Weingartner and Justin Igoe started off the fifth with singles and scored on a double by Zimmerman; Ryan Picollo then went deep for a two-run home run to make it a 10-1 Hawk lead through five.

• The Patriots got one back in the sixth on a leadoff home run by Jordan Smith, but an RBI groundout from Zimmerman in the seventh restored the nine-run advantage.

• George Mason made a charge in the bottom of the seventh, plating four runs to make it an 11-6 game, but a two-out single by Weingartner scored Wall to push the lead up to 12-6.

• Cesarini added a sacrifice fly in the ninth before Zimmerman took over on the mound to finish off the historic victory.

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• Domenic Picone tossed six innings for the Hawks on Saturday, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out eight against two walks to earn his fifth win of the season. George Mason used nine pitchers in the game, with Jalen Grant taking the loss.

• Callahan, Weingartner, and Zimmerman each rapped out three hits, with Weingartner scoring four runs on the day and three others scoring twice. Cesarini and Zimmerman drove in three runs apiece.

• Each Hawk in the starting lineup reached base in the game, with Weingartner getting aboard in all five of his plate appearances.

• The home run by Picollo was the 71st of the season for the Hawks, breaking the program record set a season ago.

• The conference title is the first of any kind for the Hawks since 1974, when Saint Joseph's won both the regular season and tournament crowns in the Middle Atlantic Conference.

• The Hawks joined the Atlantic 10 in 1983 and will make their sixth overall appearance in the conference tournament next week. As the top seed, Saint Joseph's receives a first-round bye.

UP NEXT
The top-seeded Hawks will open play in the 2023 Atlantic 10 Championship on Wednesday, May 24, at 11:00 a.m. at The Diamond in Richmond, Va.

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