March 8, 2003

Box Score

FAIRFAX, VA ... Senior left-hander John Sterling allowed three hits in eight innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters to lead George Mason to a 5-1 victory over Cornell in a non-conference college baseball game Saturday afternoon at Raymond H. "Hap" Spuhler Field.

Playing its first home game of the season, George Mason snapped a three-game losing streak as it improved to 2-4, while Cornell opened its 2003 campaign with the loss to fall to 0-1.

Sterling (1-1) struck out five of the first nine batters and retired the first 12 in order before Cornell junior Glenn Morris broke up the no-hit bid with a single to lead off the fifth inning. The Big Red loaded the bases with one out that inning, but Sterling got senior Paul Hudson to bounce back to the mound and started a 1-2-3 double play to get out of the jam. The Big Red finally broke through against Sterling in the eighth as sophomore Matt Miller delivered a two-out single to score junior Ned VanAllen and break up the shutout bid.

George Mason scratched out a run in the bottom of the first inning as junior Bruce Baldwin walked with two outs, went to third on a single by sophomore Chris Looze and scored on a wild pitch. Cornell senior David Sharfstein (0-1) kept the Patriots in check into the fifth inning, but a walk to sophomore Matt Cooksey, a single by junior Jeff Palumbo and a two-run double by Baldwin provided a 3-0 lead. Mason would add unearned runs in the sixth and eighth innings for the final margin. Freshman Brian Dunleavy led the Patriots with two hits.

George Mason and Cornell conclude the three-game series with a doubleheader Sunday at 12 p.m.