Good morning! And let us be the first to wish you a long, drawn out, relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. While you put the coffee on and try to gear yourself up to go back to work, we’ll be searching for an online petition to make the Tuesday after Memorial Day Weekend a national holiday too.

What else are we tossing into today’s Brew?

⚾ Keys to the game against St. Louis
🏆 Omar Hoyos earns Academic All-District honors
​⭐ And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Good Luck. The sixth-seeded George Mason baseball team takes on fourth-seeded Saint Louis at the 2023 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship this morning, with first pitch scheduled for 11:00am ET at The Diamond in Richmond, Virginia.

The Patriots have won their first two games at the tournament, winning 5-4 over No. 2 Dayton in extra innings and then turning around and beating No. 2 Davidson by the score of 15-11 in a barn burner of a matchup.

George Mason is competing in the Atlantic 10 Championship for the fourth time in the last seven seasons and for the fifth time in program history. You can watch today’s game at ESPN+ if you don’t make the trip. (Just make sure you’ve got an Excel file you can easily pull up if and when the boss walks by.)

Need a refresher on the recent history between these two programs? We’ve got you right here.

🔼 Pitch Perfect. George Mason sophomore starter Chad Gartland was named Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-Conference. Right behind him is sophomore catcher Connor Dykstra was selected First Team All-Conference catcher, graduate student starter Ben Shields was named Second Team All-Conference pitcher, and freshman outfielder James Quinn-Irons was selected to the All-Rookie Team.

🔼 Honor Roll. George Mason University men's volleyball student-athlete Omar Hoyos has been named to the Academic All-District® Team. The junior is majoring in Communications while concentrating in Journalism, and he’s been on the Dean's List for the past six semesters. A native of Caguas, Puerto Rico, he's a member of the Puerto Rico Men's National Team, where he competed in the 2022 FIVB World Championships and the 2022 Pan-American Cup.

🔼 Three’s A Crowd. A total of three George Mason University men's tennis student-athletes earned end-of-season recognition from the Atlantic 10 earlier this week—senior Rithik Sardana and freshman Monil Lotlikar were named to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team, while graduate student Rishab Sardana garnered A-10 All-Academic accolades.

🎾 Rithik Sardana earned All-A-10 honors for the second time in his career. The Union City, California product played No. 1 in both singles and doubles for the Patriots this season. He tallied a 7-6 dual doubles record while picking up a pair of A-10 dual doubles victories. He also won four dual singles matches at the top spot and a pair of A-10 contests.

🎾 Monil Lotlikar wrapped up an outstanding freshman campaign in which he earned A-10 Rookie of the Week on April 18. He went 4-1 in A-10 singles matches and 7-2 overall at the No. 3 position. He also partnered with Alvaro Pedraza to go 4-1 in doubles while holding a 9-5 overall dual doubles mark, including five wins at No. 1.

🎾 Rishab Sardana is Mason's first A-10 All-Academic Team selection since Edward Ayers in 2019. He holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in Mason's elite economics graduate program. On the court, the two-time All-A-10 pick tallied a 3-2 record in A-10 dual singles matches and was 3-0 in A-10 dual doubles at No. 2. He posted a 9-4 overall dual doubles record.

🤔 PATRIOT TRIVIA

Across enemy lines. George Mason is up against St. Louis for the right to punch their ticket to the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship final. Our question today is about who’s in that dugout across the field…

St. Louis has a mascot. That mascot is the Billikens. Do you know what a Billiken is?

(Hint: We’ve actually already told you in the Brew today!)

Think you got it? Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

⭐ ONE BIG THING

George Mason University men's basketball associate head coach Steve Curran and assistant coach Mike Ekanem have been named to the prestigious Silver Waves Media 75 Rising Stars: Impactful Men's Mid Major Assistants list.

Coach Steve Curran garners the honor for the third time in his career while Coach Mike Ekanem is a first-time selection. They’re both serving in their first season under George Mason head coach Tony Skinn.

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Patriot Brew? Well, the first thing you should do is thank them. The next thing you should do is subscribe here and get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

📅 THE DAYS AHEAD

Friday 5/26

👟 Men’s & Women’s Track @ NCAA Championships Preliminary Round

⚾ Baseball vs. St. Louis University @ 11:00am ET on ESPN+ | Live Video | Live Stats

Saturday 5/27

👟 Men’s & Women’s Track @ NCAA Championships Preliminary Round

⚾ Baseball vs. TBD | Live Stats

Sunday 5/28

No scheduled events.

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Good luck!

Saint Louis University's mascot is a symbol of good luck around the world—a mythical figure who represents “things as they ought to be”.

The more you know, right?

Have a good Friday and a great Memorial Day Weekend, y’all.