WASHINGTON, DC– Monmouth's baseball team put the potential lead run on base in the ninth inning but couldn't complete the comeback, falling to George Washington 7-5 on Sunday afternoon. MU is now 4-9 overall, while the Colonials improve to 6-9 this year.
Trailing 7-1 entering the ninth, Cary Jacobson (Los Angeles, CA/Palisades) and Clay Koniencki (Schwenksville, PA/Malvern Prep) opened the inning with singles and Grant Lamberton (Newark, DE/Salesianum) singled home the first run of the frame with one away. Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) walked to fill the bases, and Dan Shea (Wilmington, DE/Salesianum) also drew a free pass to force in a second run. Pete Papcun (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) followed with an RBI single to cut it to 7-4, and with the bases still filled, Brad Rhoads (West Chester, PA/West Chester East) hit a sacrifice fly to make it 7-5. Christian Holland (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) walked to again load the bases, but Eddie Muhl got Jacobson to fly out to end the game.
Monmouth once trailed 7-0, getting a run back in the eighth on a Shea run-scoring single.
George Washington scored all seven of its runs in the first four innings, opening with two in the first on Bobby Campbell's two-run double. Brandon Chapman's RBI single in the third made it 3-0, and a four-run fourth extended the GW lead to 7-0. In that frame, Kevin Mahala sent an RBI double and Andrew Selby reached on an error to enable a second run to score. Mahala later stole home and Chapman singled to right center to cap off the four-run inning.
Ricky Dennis (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) suffered the loss for MU, while Jordan McCrum (Dallas, PA/Dallas Senior), Kyle Ajjan (Chester Springs, PA/Downingtown East) and Jesse Fante (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) combined to toss 4.1 shutout innings. Lamberton and Aidan Favia (Short Hills, NJ/Millburn) both notched a pair of hits each.
Jacob Williams threw eight innings for GW, allowing three runs on nine hits. Chapman and Mahala combined for seven hits for the Colonials.
Monmouth is back in action on Tuesday at James Madison. First pitch is slated for 3:00 p.m.
