The Quakers won a nine-inning thriller at George Mason in a 3.5-hour game on a hot Saturday morning. Despite solid pitching efforts from starter Mikey Levy and reliever Jackson Fauvre, the team trailed by as much as 6-2 as late as the 6th inning – on account of a failure to hit the ball hard with runners in scoring position: Sidwell left two stranded in scoring position in the 1st, one in the 2nd, one in the 3rd, one in the 4th, and one in the 6th. However, trailing 3-6, the team broke things open in the last inning, scoring three to even the score at 6-6 on a one-out sac fly from Lee Gillies to score Fauvre.

There was defensive drama for the Quakers in each of the last four innings of the game. In the sixth inning, already leading by three, Mason loaded the bases (BB, 1B, HBP) with no outs. Things looked grim for the Quakers, but Fauvre managed to strike out the next better – with catcher Robby Schooling doing a great job blocking to keep Fauvre comfortable throwing his whole arsenal – and the next batter lined out to shortstop Matt Harden, who threw to Gillies to double the runner off of second.

After the Quakers tied the game in the 7th, trouble arose when Mason moved a runner to third with one out. The Quakers had to move the outfield in to prevent a runner from scoring on a sac fly. Fauvre struck out the next batter. Facing a tough leadoff hitter, Fauvre bounced a curveball, which got by Schooling. Schooling hustled and flipped the ball to Fauvre who dove to catch the ball and tag the advancing runner at the same time. In a cloud of dust, Fauvre just beat the Mason runner to the plate, and the umpire signaled “Out!” as Fauvre held the ball in the air to show the successful tag.

Sidwell didn’t make much noise in the top of the 8th, despite a two-out line drive by Will Pryce that got past the left fielder, leaving Pryce in scoring position. There was more tension in the bottom half of the frame with the top of Mason’s lineup up. The Mustangs reached scoring position with one out. With the outfield in shallow enough to throw out a runner from second, Fauvre got their three-hitter, who had a multi-hit day with a triple, to pop out to Gillies at second and struck out their cleanup hitter.

The floodgates opened for the Quakers in the top of the 9th, with multiple walks, multiple hits, and multiple RBI groundouts yielding four runs for the Quakers heading into the bottom half of what proved to be the final inning. Gillies entered in relief. The first batter singled, and on the first pitch of the next at-bat, the second hitter ripped a bouncing ball toward third baseman Briley Ward, who handled the ball with his trademark smoothness and redirected it instantly to Fauvre at second base. Fauvre threw to Will Pryce at first, to complete the 5-4-3 double play with plenty of time to spare. Despite there being two outs, a hint of doubt crept in when the next three batters went single, walk, bases-clearing double to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of the Mason leadoff hitter. But, Gillies calmly went to work and induced a game-ending flyball to centerfield, with Levy trotting in, camping under the ball, and making an easy catch with two hands.

The exciting game featured 17 different Quaker players, with Coach Caleb Morris making his head-coaching debut, filling in for Coach LaRue and managing the roster beautifully.