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 Senior Michael Parker hit his 10th home run of the season Tuesday at James Madison |
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GW Holds on for Non-Conference Victory at JMU
May 15, 2007
HARRISONBURG, VA - George Washington (20-31-1) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after one inning of play and then held on all game to defeat James Madison (21-29) by a final of 11-8 late Tuesday afternoon at Long Field/Mauck Stadium.
The win was GW's third in a row and marked their 14th consecutive season with at least 20 wins.
Freshman pitcher Bobby Lucas (Baltimore, MD/Calvert Hall College HS) got the start for GW, just his third this season. Lucas worked the first three innings and allowed three runs while striking out four as he picked up his second win of the campaign (2-2). He has lowered his ERA by more than six points since his last start, at Towson (3/28/07).
Senior Derek Haese (Littleton, CO/Dakota Ridge) struck out the only batter he faced in the ninth inning to earn his second save in as many games. Haese is now tied for 10th all-time at GW with 61 pitching appearances.
In all, GW used six pitchers. Combined, they allowed eight runs, seven earned, and struck out nine.
The Colonials jumped all over the Dukes in the top of the first, scoring five runs as they sent 10 batters to the plate. The five runs that GW put on the board were the most they have scored in the first inning all season. The offensive explosion began with lead-off hitter Mickey Shupin (Sea Girt, NJ/Wall) getting drilled in the back. Tom Zebroski (Port Washington, NY/Paul Schreiber) followed with an infield single to the pitcher to put runners at first and second. Michael Parker (Newton, MA/Newton South) then drove them both home with his 10th home run of the season, a blast over the fence in left field, making it 3-0 in favor of GW.
The hitting continued as Charlie Kruer (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) roped a single up the middle and then two batters later, Andrew Abokhair (Ashburn, VA/Broad Run) put runners at first and second when he reached safely with a single into left-center. A sac-bunt moved both runners into scoring position for starting third baseman Chris Holland (Pasadena, MD/Chesapeake), who came through with a hard single down the left-field line that drove in both runs, making it 5-0. It was just Holland's ninth and 10th RBI of the season, as he was making only his sixth start this year. Holland finished 2-for-3, his second two-hit performance in his past two starts.
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The Dukes began to chip away at the Colonial lead in their half of the second on Dan Santobianco's two-run home run down the left field line, his third of the season.
JMU added another run in the third on a Mike Fabiaschi RBI-single that scored Kellen Kulbacki. A solo home run by Alex Foltz in the fourth drew the Dukes to within one, 5-4.
In the fifth, GW extended their lead as freshman Curtis Eward (Oakton, VA/Oak Hill) led-off the inning with a line-drive home run over the fence in left field, his third homer of the year. The Colonials added another run before the inning was over when, with Abokhair standing on second after a single and a groundout, Matt Boyd (Rockville, MD/Magruder) singled through the left side to plate GW's seventh run of the game. It was Boyd's first RBI of the season, coming in his 30th at-bat, and just his fifth start. Boyd finished with two hits, his first multi-hit game of the season.
The Colonials added one more run in the top of the sixth, as Michael Parker singled, advanced to third on two wild pitches and then scored on Abokhair's double to the fence in left field, increasing GW's lead, 8-4.
In the seventh inning, GW scored three more runs, as five different batters reached base is seemingly every way possible. Holland and Boyd were both hit by a pitch to begin the frame. Then Shupin, trying to bunt his way on, reached safely as the throw from JMU's third baseman sailed into right field, allowing Holland to score. Zebroski followed with his third hit of the game to plate Boyd and then Kruer singled two batters later to score Shupin.
One again, however, JMU managed to keep it close, as they pushed across two runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh, taking advantage of two GW throwing errors. The Dukes put another two-spot on the board in the eighth on a two-run, opposite-field home run by Kellen Kulbacki, his team-leading 19th of the season and school-record 51st of his career.
George Washington will conclude its 2007 regular season later this week, as they play host to Duquesne (22-25, 10-14 A-10)in a three-game Atlantic 10 Conference series. Game one against the Dukes is Thursday at 4:00 p.m., game two is 1:00 p.m., on Friday and Saturday's Senior Day is scheduled for a 12:00 p.m. start.
The Colonials, 11-13 in league play, will enter the series in eighth place in the A-10, a game and a half back from the sixth and final spot for the conference tournament
Game Notes: The two teams combined to use 12 different pitchers in the game, six each ... seven of the GW starters recorded at least one hit ... Tom Zebroski finished 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI and now has eight hits in his past 10 at-bats ... Mickey Shupin went 0-for-4, snapping his seven-game hit streak ... Parker finished 2-for-3 with three RBI ... Zebroski added two stolen bases.
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