MERION STATION, Pa. – An early statement of intent and a late exclamation point led the Saint Joseph's baseball team to a 9-0 win over George Washington at Smithson Field on Thursday afternoon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Saint Joseph's (25-23 overall, 12-10 Atlantic 10) got off to a hot start, loading the bases with nobody out via singles by Conlan Wall and Ryan Weingartner around a walk to Ryan Cesarini.  Owen Petrich followed with a two-run single to put the Hawks on the board; Ryan Picollo would later hit into a double play that allowed Weingartner to score and make it 3-0 after one.
 
• Both teams traded zeroes until a wild play in the bottom of the fifth.  Weingartner drew a walk to bring up Petrich, who hit a hard ground ball off the leg of GW pitcher Teddy Brennan; Brennan's attempt to retire Petrich sailed over the head of the first baseman, allowing Weingartner to score and extend the margin to four.  Another error on the same play would allow Petrich to go to second.
 
• The Hawks blew the game open in the eighth, hanging five on the board.  Tim Dickinson walked before an infield single by Max Hitman brought up Luke Zimmerman, who singled to right to score Dickinson and make it a 5-0 game.
 
• Wall was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for Cesarini, who drew a four-pitch walk to force in a run.  Weingartner followed with a two-run single before Petrich added an RBI single to set the final margin.
 
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• Domenic Picone turned in another strong outing in a big game, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out four in six shutout innings.  Four days after Ryan DeSanto took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against George Mason, Picone held GW without a hit for five and a third innings.
 
• Matt McShane scattered four hits and fanned two in three shutout innings for his second save of the season.
 
• Brennan took the loss for George Washington (29-23 overall, 12-10 Atlantic 10), allowing four runs on five hits and five walks in five innings.
 
• Petrich was 4-for-5 on the day with three runs batted in; Weingartner added two hits and a walk to go with two runs scored and two driven in.  Zimmerman added two hits as well, while Wall and Cesarini scored two runs apiece.  Cesarini also walked three times in the game.
 
• The teams combined for 17 hits in the game, all of which were singles.
 
• The Hawks have now hosted a game at Smithson Field on every day of the week this season; a rare Monday afternoon game in early March allowed the Hawks to fill out their weekly bingo card with their first home Thursday contest of the season.
 
UP NEXT
The teams will wrap up the series and the regular season with a doubleheader beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Friday at Smithson Field.