May 25, 2004

Chris Looze had a phenomenal week for the Patriots last week as he batted .429 with four homers, four doubles, scored nine runs and tallied 13 RBI. He earned the Colonial Athletic Association's Co-Player of the Week award, the third time this year he's been honored with the weekly award.

The junior first baseman homered twice in a win over UMBC, drove in four in a 9-7 win over JMU on Friday and smacked his team-leading 17th homer of the year in Mason's 13-7 win at JMU on Sunday. For the season, Looze is batting .355 and he leads the league with 78 RBI. He is two RBI from tying the school record for RBI in season, set in 1985 by Kevin Burke.

Looze, in two seasons at George Mason, is among the top five all-time in school history in home runs and RBI. He will lead the Patriots this week at the CAA Tournament in Wilmington, N.C. The Patriots are the tournament's top seed and they open up play at Noon on Wednesday against Delaware. Live stats for the tournament may be found at http://student.uncw.edu/riordant/xlive.htm. The tournament's official web site is http://www.uncw.edu/athletics/2004%20CAA%20Tournament/index.htm.

The Patriots are currently 51st in the RPI, something the NCAA looks at when selecting teams for the baseball tournament. It is an important number should the Patriots not win the CAA Tournament and earn the conference's automatic bid. Mason is receiving some national attention with multiple votes in two of the nation's four polls, the Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 and the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association's Top 35.