June 4, 2004

Box Score

Charlottesville, Va. - After 11 years of waiting to return to the NCAA Baseball Tournament, the Patriots squandered the opportunity in the opening round of the Charlottesville Regional, committing four errors and squeezing out just six hits as the Patriots fell to Vanderbilt, 7-3 in the first game of the double-elimination tournament.

The Patriots will play either top-seeded Virginia or fourth-seeded Princeton on Saturday at 3 p.m. in a game that will end one team's season. Virginia and Princeton will play on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

The third-seeded Patriots fell behind in the first when the first two Vanderbilt hitters reached base. Ryan Klosterman and Antoan Richardson led off with a walk and single respectively and they each advanced a base on a double steal. Catcher Robby Jacobsen's throwing error allowed Klosterman to score and Richardson came home on Cesar Nicholas' ground out. The Patriots had threatened in the top of the first but couldn't get a run across.

Matt Cooksey drew a one-out walk and second baseman Warner Jones committed an error on Chris Looze's grounder to put runners on the corners, but Nick Shimer and Adam Innerst struck out to end the inning.

The Patriots did break through in the third but the damage was minimal. Bruce Baldwin and Jeff Palumbo led off the inning with singles and Cooksey walked to load the bases. Chris Looze struck out swinging but the ball got away from catcher Jonathan Douillard and Baldwin scored on the wild pitch. Shimer struck out and Innerst flew out to left to allow Vanderbilt's Jeremy Sowers to escape. Sowers is expected to be one of the first 10 players selected in Monday's Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

The Commodores (43-17) got the run back in the bottom of the third when Cesar Nicholas hit a solo homer, his 15th of the season. The score stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth when the wheels fell off for George Mason.

Klosterman led off with a single and Richardson sacrificed him into scoring position. Warner Jones hit an infield single to keep Klosterman at second and Nicholas singled to bring home Klosterman. Jones went to third and Klosterman went to second on a throwing error by the center fielder, Cooksey. Mike Baxter hit a grounder to third that should have been the second out but Shimer booted the ball and the bases were loaded.

Aaron Garza's grounder to third resulted in Baxter being erased from the base paths but Jones scored, making it 5-1, and Nicholas went to third on the play. Tony Mansolino singled to right to bring home Nicholas and put runners on second and third. The inning should have ended on Worth Scott's squib shot in front of the plate but first baseman Chris Looze could not hold on to Jacobsen's throw and Garza scored.

When the dust settled, George Mason starter Eric Gibbons was charged with three earned runs with four Patriot errors resulting in the other four runs. Gibbons went seven innings for the Patriots, striking out a career-high seven batters and walking a career-high five. He surrendered eight hits and his record fell to 6-5 on the year. Sowers, meanwhile, struck out a season-high 11 while allowing just four hits and walking two batters. He improved to 10-5 on the season and he lowered his ERA to 2.64.

The Patriots added a run in the ninth off reliever Jensen Lewis. Innerst reached on an error to lead off the inning, Kyle Barrett singled to right to put runners on first and second, and Robby Jacobsen singled to center to score Innerst. Barrett went to third on the play and he scored on a wild pitch.

Stacen Gant (10-0, 2.59 ERA) is expected to start for the Patriots on Saturday.