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Saint Joseph's - Philadelphia Baseball Review
Saint Joseph’s did not have the luxury of easing into Friday night’s Atlantic 10 Tournament game.

Lose, and the season was over.

Instead, the Hawks responded like a club that fully understood the moment.

After absorbing a series of early punches from George Mason, Saint Joseph’s methodically took control Friday evening at Capital One Park before erupting late for a 14-4 victory that kept its season alive and pushed the Hawks one step closer to the Atlantic 10 championship game.

What happened next only added to the chaos of the day.

Following the victory, the Hawks quickly turned around to face VCU in another elimination game — this one carrying even larger stakes. The winner would advance to the Atlantic 10 Championship game. The loser would see its season end.

But weather intervened almost immediately.

Heavy rain suspended the game in the bottom of the first inning with VCU leading Saint Joseph’s, 2-0, leaving the Hawks in postseason limbo after surviving one elimination game only to have another abruptly paused before it could fully unfold.

Friday night against George Mason, though, showed exactly why Saint Joseph’s remains dangerous.

For a few innings, the game carried the uncomfortable tension that defines postseason baseball. George Mason grabbed an early lead in the second inning and again moved in front in the third, forcing Saint Joseph’s to spend much of the opening half of the game chasing momentum instead of controlling it.

The Hawks never panicked.

That has become part of their identity this spring.

Saint Joseph’s answered immediately in the fourth inning, flipping a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead with a sequence built more on pressure than fireworks. Jason Janesko tied the game with an RBI fielder’s choice before Tim Dickinson and Alex Venezia followed with run-scoring swings that suddenly pushed the Hawks back in front.

From there, the lineup kept leaning on George Mason until the game finally cracked open.

The fifth inning added insurance. The sixth inning changed the tone entirely.

Alex Kelsey launched a two-run homer to deep right field that stretched the lead to 8-4 before Richard Beggy followed later in the inning with a two-run blast of his own. Suddenly, an elimination game that felt tense through five innings started turning into a celebration inside the Saint Joseph’s dugout.

And the Hawks were not done.

Saint Joseph’s buried George Mason beneath a four-run seventh inning that showcased the relentless depth that has made this offense one of the Atlantic 10’s most dangerous groups all season. Joey Gale ripped a two-run single through the left side, Joey Pagano worked a bases-loaded walk and Janesko added another RBI as the Hawks stretched the margin to 14-4.

The offensive explosion overshadowed what quietly became one of the steadier pitching performances of Saint Joseph’s season.

Cole Fehrman delivered a complete-game effort in the season-saving win, working all nine innings while scattering eight hits and striking out nine. More importantly, he stabilized the game after George Mason’s early offense threatened to place the Hawks in immediate danger.

Every elimination game eventually reaches a point where somebody has to calm things down.

Fehrman became that presence Friday night.

The offense eventually rewarded him with 13 hits, 11 walks and constant traffic on the bases. Gale finished with three hits and two RBIs. Kelsey added two hits and the pivotal sixth-inning homer. Beggy drove in three runs despite recording only one official hit. Janesko also drove in three while Dickinson and Venezia chipped in key middle-inning RBIs that helped flip the game permanently in Saint Joseph’s favor.

By the late innings, the tension that typically defines elimination baseball had disappeared entirely.

The Hawks had turned desperation into dominance.

Now their season sits suspended in uncertainty.

Saint Joseph’s already survived one win-or-go-home game Friday night. Another began only hours later against VCU with a championship berth hanging in the balance before heavy rain stopped everything in the opening inning.

Whenever play resumes on Saturday, the stakes will remain exactly the same:

Win, and the Hawks advance to the Atlantic 10 Championship later in the day to face Rhode Island.

Lose, and the season ends.

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