June 5, 2004

Box Score

Charlottesville, Va. - The George Mason bats stayed quiet on Saturday afternoon and as a result, the season came to and end for the Patriots' baseball team as Virginia eliminated the Patriots from the NCAA Tournament with a 7-2 win in Charlottesville, Va.

The Patriots tied a school record for Division I wins this year with 39 and the offense broke team records for runs, hits, RBI and at-bats. Unfortunately, the team that averaged 8.7 runs per game, eighth-best in the nation, managed just five runs in two games at the Charlottesville Regional. The third-seeded Patriots fell to Vanderbilt, 7-3 on Friday in the double-elimination tournament.

Top-seeded Virginia got all the runs it would need in the second inning. Ryan Zimmerman hit an infield popup that got lost in the sun and he ended up on second with a double. Pitcher Joe Koshansky, the ACC Player of the Year, followed with a home run to right-center field and a 2-0 lead. Virginia made it 3-0 in the fourth when Kyle Werman hit a one-out single to center, Tim Henry walked and Mark Reynolds singled to right to score Werman.

The Patriots (39-19) got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Chris Looze and Nick Shimer led off with back-to-back doubles. But Adam Innerst popped out to shallow right field, Kyle Barrett popped out to second and Robby Jacobsen flew out to right. The Patriots also had a chance in the bottom of the sixth when Looze hit a one-out double to the 408-foot sign in center but Shimer flew out to the warning track in center and Innerst grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning.

The Cavaliers (43-14) added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Koshansky led off with a walk and Scott Headd sacrificed to move him to second. Tom Hagan singled to center to put runners on the corners and Matt Street's infield hit brought Koshansky home.

In the bottom of the seventh, Kyle Barrett reached on an error to lead off the inning, but Jacobsen flew out to right, Jimmy Freund flew out to center and Bruce Baldwin popped out to third. That was the final threat of the day for George Mason, which added a ninth-inning run on a solo homer by Robby Jacobsen. Virginia iced their cake with a three-run home run in the ninth but Mark Reynolds off of Patriots' reliever Jason Mills.

Stacen Gant took the loss for George Mason, his first of the year. He ended the season 10-1 with a 2.72 ERA. He struck out 87 batters in 119 innings, allowing just 95 hits and 32 walks. Teams batted .218 against him this year. Koshansky earned the win, improving to 8-3.

While the season ended with three straight losses for the Patriots, it was still a satisfying year for both the team and several individuals. Aside from the aforementioned team records, Jeff Palumbo also had one great seasons in school history. He broke the single-season school record for hits in a season and runs in a season and those marks currently stand at 96 and 81, respectively. He also set new school career records for hits, runs, at-bats, games played and games started, and he finished his career among the top six in RBI, steals and hit by pitch.

Chris Looze also had a fine season, breaking the school record for RBI in a year, as he finished with 81. Matt Cooksey broke the school's career records for walks and triples. Palumbo entered the NCAA Tournament first in the nation in runs per game while Looze was fourth in the nation in RBI per game.

George Mason loses four senior from this team, Palumbo, Shimer, Barrett and Baldwin. The Patriots are now 1-10 in five trips to the NCAA Baseball Tournament.