March 28, 2008

Box Score

The George Mason baseball team made two errors on Friday and they each led to unearned runs as the Patriots dropped the opener of a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series to Old Dominion, 12-4 at Spuhler Field. The Monarchs scored four in the third and five in the eighth, both times after the Patriots made errors, and ODU denied Mason of reaching the .500 mark for the first time all season.

The Patriots got four RBI from Justin Bour but the rest of the Patriots failed to produce as Mason fell to 11-13 on the year, 6-3 in CAA play. Old Dominion improved to 14-11, 6-4. The Monarchs got multiple hits and multiple RBI from Jimmy Miles, Max Most and David Burns. Miles was 4 for 6 with four RBI and two runs, Most was 3 for 4 with three runs and three RBI and Burns was 2 for 5 with two RBI and a run.

Old Dominion got on the board first with four runs in the third, three of which were unearned. Gerard Hall reached on an error by Brent Weiss to lead off the inning, advancing to second on the throw in the dirt. Hall went to third on a sacrifice bunt and when Miles grounded to Mark Hill at third, it looked as if Mason might have a chance to escape the inning. But while in a rundown, Hill was called for obstruction on Hall and ODU was able to take a 1-0 lead. Miles went to second on the play and scored on Max Most's single. Bryan Cipolla followed with a single and the pair scored on a Burns base hit to make it 4-0.

The Patriots got their first run in the bottom of the fourth when Chris Henderson led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a balk and scored on Bour's grounder. Old Dominion got the run back in the sixth when Burns led off with a single, stole second and scored on a Hall two-out single to right. Mason made it a two-run game in the bottom of the inning, though, as Henderson reached on a one-out error and Bour hit a two-out two-run homer to left, his 11th of the year. Bour has hit six homers in the past six games.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, the Monarchs got three straight singles as Most, Cipolla and Anthony Shawler chased starter Dan Jaycox from the game and made it 6-3. The Monarchs put the game away in the eighth when Edgar Hernandez led off with a walk, Jake McAloose reached on an error when he attempted a sacrifice bunt, Chris Keenan walked and Miles tripled to straight away center to clear the bases. Most followed with a home run to make it 11-3.

Mason's final run came in the eighth when Spencer Wiggins, Henderson and Scott Krieger hit three straight singles to load the bases and Bour hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 11-4. The Monarchs got singles from Hernandez and Keenan and an RBI double from Miles in the ninth to account for the final score.

The Patriots and Monarchs continue the three-game series on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.