George Mason University Baseball Team Punches Ticket to NCAA Tournament

by Nick Gatz Falls

The George Mason University Baseball team captured its secondever A10 tournament title this past Saturday at The Diamond in Richmond Va. Mason was led by outstanding pitching, great defense and some timely hitting. The Patriots (3524,13-10 A10) went 5-1 at the 2023 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship. They won three elimination games to claim the title. The 6th seeded Patriots knocked off the 4th seeded Saint Louis Billikens in back-to-back do-or-die contests in the final.

In game two, Mason sent eight batters to the plate in the top of the sixth and scored a pair of runs to take a 3-2 lead. With one out, Jordan Smith reached on an error and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore catcher Connor Dykstra. Reece Woody, a sophomore first baseman produced an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.

In what turned out to be the defining moment of the game, second baseman Brett Stallings got on base due to the Billikens, third error of the inning. Woody raced home to put the Patriots ahead for good at 3-2. The Patriots tacked on a run in the top of the eighth and added 2 insurance runs in the 9th for a 6-2 victory.

Two Mason freshman pitchers excelled in the title game. Starter Logan Rumberg threw four innings allowing only two runs while reliever Owen Stewart pitched five innings of two-hit shutout ball to earn the win. Sophomore starter Chad Gartland was the Most Outstanding Performer of the tournament. Senior South Trimble, junior Kyle Menaker and sophomore Reece Woody were also named to the All-Championship Team.

Gartland threw 9.2 innings over two appearances during the championship. He completed 8.0 innings vs No. 3 Dayton and pitched 1.2 innings in relief to earn the save in an elimination game vs. Dayton. Gartland finished with a 2.79 ERA and .257 opposing batting average with nine strikeouts and a save.

Under the leadership of first year manager Shawn Camp the Patriots won their first conference tournament title since 2014. Camp took over the program after longtime head skipper Bill Brown retired.

Camp had been on Brown’s staff for the previous three seasons. He is a former Patriot pitcher who played under Brown and was a MLB reliever who enjoyed a 11 year career in the majors. Throughout his career Camp was praised for his ability to adapt. He was a catcher in high school and

Falls Church School News & Notes

Chew & Chat’s Project Ripples Through F.C.

In response to virtual learning three years ago, Ms. Andrea Chew started a club called Color & Chat, which allowed her students to socialize from home. Then, once school returned in-person, the students still wanted to meet to chat — so they started coming up to her classroom during their lunch shift. They renamed it Chew & Chat because they would eat lunch and chat about whatever was on their minds. The club has grown in size from about 5 students to 45.

This year, the club applied for (and was awarded) a grant about youth changing the world. The club decided to do a Kindness Project to spread kindness throughout both school and community. Their kindness is spreading through the City of Falls Church through activities such as sharing a kindness quote each morning over the PA System to start the school day with a positive mindset; painting “Be Kind” Canvas Plaques and hand delivering them to the school staff and local community businesses; installing Kindness Words on steps at the school — so students and staff members can read a positive word as they climb the steps; distributing water bottles with “Kindness Labels” and filling the inside with small snacks and a handwritten “thank you” note by the students. The water bottles were given to all bus drivers/aides, custodians, maintenance workers, and cafeteria workers.

Chantilly Jazz Fest Awards Superior Ratings

The Meridian High School Jazz Ensemble performed for the prestigious Chantilly Jazz Festival on Friday, May 12. The three-day event featured 28 jazz groups from across the state.

The Jazz Ensemble received converted to a pitcher in college. Camp brought that same tenacity and fight to the college coaching ranks that he had while on the mound. When talking to the News-Press, he emphasized pitching, defense, and speed. He stated, “I’m old school,” a philosophy and a goal the team set out with from day one. He stressed that his staff works hard and gets the best out of the players, capitalizing on their players’ strengths and not asking them to do things they can’t. While the Patriots may not hit a lot of homers, they will steal bases, play great defense and pitch well.

Camp described his team as,

“We are the West Coast offense to baseball, we don’t have the resources of big schools. We work with what we have and over-develop our players. We play fast and force teams to feel uncomfortable.” The Patriots are a team that utilizes everyone’s best abilities and look for traits that other teams may not value. One of those is moving runners on bunts, putting the ball in play and stealing bases. The Patriots have two players in the top 50 in the country in stolen bases.

Mason’s A10 title was a testament to their manager who brings old school mentality and approach to the game. In game two on Saturday those traits were on full display as the Patriots were paced by young arms and small-ball. straight superior ratings from three judges. Adjudicator Chuck Dotas, James Madison University Jazz Director, provided a clinic for the group after performing three selections featuring Afro-Cuban, swing, and blues music.

With their A10 title, the Patriots earned the league’s automatic bid in this year’s NCAA Tournament. For the eighth time in school history, the George Mason Patriots will send a baseball team to the NCAA Division I Regionals. That regional is set to begin Friday, June 2. Mason will travel to Wake Forest to take on the No. 1 national seeded Demon Deacons in the Winston-Salem Regional at 7 p.m. The tournament will be played in a double-elimination format. The games will be aired on ESPN+.

Four Jazz Ensemble members were recognized for their outstanding performance and were selected for the All-Star Jazz Ensemble. Congratulations to Casey Dimock, trombone; Nate Hill, piano; Danielle Kuck, bass; Carlos Ortiz, trumpet and Kaethan Virmani, trombone.

Ceremony Recognizes Student Achievement

The Falls Church Education Foundation (FCEF) joined the Choral Boosters, Band Boosters, and other community organizations in recognizing student achievement at the 2023 Scholarship and Awards ceremony. Scholarships include recognition of students who are: immigrants, dedicated to service learning, first-generation college students, community college attendees, planning on a career in teaching, attending vocational programs, ESOL program graduates, students pursuing visual arts, creative writing, and journalism, a full tuition and fees scholarship, and more. Three new scholarships were included: The Torey Fay Scholarship, The Matthew Valley Visual Arts Scholarship, and The Matheson-Linamen Scholarship.

FCEF has disbursed almost $2M in donor-designated scholarships to date. If one wishes to contribute to a scholarship, please go to www.fcedf. org and click “Donate Now.” It will be a guide to specify the scholarship one wants to donate to. If there is interest in starting a new scholarship, don’t hesitate to contact FCEF Executive Director Debbie Hiscott at dhiscott@fcedf.org. Learn more about each scholarship on the FCEFfunded legacy kiosks.