Williamsburg, Va. - The William and Mary Tribe baseball team won in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon, beating the George Mason Patriots, 2-1, in 11 innings.  With the win, the Tribe improves to 9-13 on the season and to 4-4 in CAA play, while the Patriots fall to 9-10-1 on the year and to 0-5 in conference play.

Junior Chris Forsten was the offensive standout on the day for the College, going 3-for-3 with the game-winning RBI single in the 11^th inning.  Forsten reached base five times on the day, also drawing a pair of walks.  Junior Tadd Bower was 2-for-4 with a run scored while freshman Ryan Lindemuth had a RBI for the Tribe.  Also, senior Derrick Osteen was 2-for-5 and classmate Jonathan Slattery was 1-for-4 with a run scored.

Senior Logan Billbrough had a solid start for the College, going six innings while only allowing one run.  On the day, Billbrough struck out seven batters and allowed just five hits while walking four.  After earning the three-inning save on Friday night, sophomore Brett Koehler went 3.1 innings out of the bullpen on Saturday to win his second game of the season.  Koehler struck out five batters and allowed just two hits.

The Patriots jumped ahead of the Tribe in the top of the second inning, scoring one run on a Danny Lyons RBI single to right field.  After three scoreless frames, the College answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the fourth.

After back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt to start the inning, runners were on second and third for Lindemuth with one away.  Lindemuth came through for the Tribe, grounding out to second base, scoring Slattery from third.  After four complete innings, the game was tied, 1-1.

After the fourth inning, both pitching staffs would buckle down and offense would be hard to come by.  Both teams had their offensive opportunities during the first nine innings, but the game would head to extra innings with the score still tied at 1-1.

After a scoreless tenth inning, the Patriots were unable to get a run across in the top of the 11^th despite having a runner on second with one out.  With the runner in scoring position, Koehler induced a fly out and then struck out his fifth and final batter of the day to keep the game knotted up at 1-1 headed to the bottom of the 11^th .

Up first in the 11^th for the College was Bower, who singled to center field to get the inning started.  Lindemuth then promptly sacrificed Bower in to scoring position with a bunt down the first base line.  After an intentional walk to pinch hitter Buster Gean , runners were on first and second for Forsten with one away.

After taking a first-pitch ball, Forsten flared a single in to right-center field.  The Mason center fielder picked the ball up and fired towards home with Bower bearing down on the GMU catcher.  The throw came up the third-base line and short-hopped the George Mason catcher, allowing Bower to slide safely around him and score the winning run for the College.  Forsten's game winning, RBI single gave the College a hard-fought, 2-1 victory over Mason in 11 innings.

The victory over George Mason on Saturday not only clinched the season series with the Patriots for the Tribe, but also evened the College's mark in conference play at 4-4.  After dropping its first three to James Madison in close ball games, the Green and Gold has now won four of its past five CAA contests.  The series win over George Mason is the first for the Tribe since it took two of three from the Patriots in Williamsburg during the 2002 season.

The William and Mary Tribe baseball team will conclude its three-game series with the George Mason Patriots on Sunday, March 20, at Plumeri Park.  First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.