May 16, 2004
Box Score
The four seniors on the George Mason baseball team had their special day on Sunday, the final home game of the season for the Patriots, and all four of them made sure that their last time at Spuhler Field would be memorable. Jeff Palumbo tied the school record for all-time hits, Nick Shimer had an RBI double, Bruce Baldwin scored a pair of runs and Kyle Barrett had two big hits as the Patriots got a complete game out of starter Brent Hitz, defeating Delaware, 9-2, for a sweep of the three-game series in Colonial Athletic Association action.
The Patriots (34-13, 18-3) got their first run in the second when Baldwin hit a one-out single, Barrett followed with a hit to left on a hit-and-run and Robby Jacobsen's sacrifice fly brought home Baldwin for a 1-0 lead. The Blue Hens (28-21, 10-10) tied the game in the fourth when Brian Valichka, Ed McDonell and Bryan Hagerich hit two-out singles to make it 1-1.
Delaware's hopes of salvaging a win in the three-game series was ended in the bottom of the fifth when the Patriots batted around, putting five runs on the board. Barrett led off with a single and Jacobsen followed with an infield hit. Jimmy Freund sacrificed the runner into scoring position and Palumbo tripled to break the tie in the game, and to establish a tie with Lonnie Goldberg for hits in a career, with 264. Palumbo scored his 67th run of the year, also a school record, when Matt Cooksey flied out to center. With two outs and no one on, the Patriots continued the assault, first with a Chris Looze single, then with a Shimer double. Adam Innerst singled to score Shimer and make it a 6-1 game. Robby Jacobsen hit a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run homer in the eighth to account for the final runs. Delaware got a solo homer in the eighth from Todd Davison.
Hitz improved to 4-0 on the year as he threw 126 pitches in his nine innings of work. He allowed six hits, one walk and struck out three in the victory. In the three-game series, George Mason starters pitched 26 of 29 innings, allowing just five runs in the process. Delaware, which came into the series hitting .317, batted just .171 in the three games. Jarame Beaupre fell to 5-2 on the season as he allowed seven earned runs in seven innings. He entered the contest with a 2.92 ERA but saw it rise to 3.52 after the game.
The Patriots are now 21 games over .500, the most since finishing the 1992 season with a 39-18 record. They have five games this coming week as they play George Washington at Arlington, Va. on Tuesday at 3 p.m., at UMBC on Wednesday at 7 p.m., and at James Madison on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with game times set for 4 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. The Patriots have clinched no worse then the second seed in the CAA Tournament. One more George Mason win or one more UNC Wilmington loss and the Patriots will clinch the tournament's top seed. The tournament will be held in Wilmington, N.C. beginning Wednesday, May 26.
