March 6, 2005
Box Score
The George Mason baseball team wrapped up its first series sweep of the season on Sunday afternoon as the Patriots defeated Fordham University 8-2 in front of more than 100 fans at Spuhler Field in Fairfax, Va. Mason had defeated the Rams 25-3 and 4-1 in a doubleheader on Saturday.
The Patriots batted around in the first inning, scoring five runs on three hits, and added three more runs in the second to provide more than enough offense for starter Brent Hitz. The junior lefthander earned his first win of the season and is now 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA. He went seven innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
Matt Barrett was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI for Mason and Robby Jacobsen and Matt York each scored a pair of runs as Mason improved to 6-3 on the year. Fordham's John Mollicone was 3 for 4 with a run and Drew Adler was 2 for 3. The Rams dropped to 4-5 on the season. Starter Javier Martinez dropped to 1-2 on the year after allowing five runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Martinez struggled in his third outing of the year. He allowed a leadoff single to Matt York in the bottom of the first, then walked Chris Fournier and Chris Looze to load the bases. Adam Innerst's sacrifice fly put the first run of the game on the board. Robby Jacobsen was hit by a pitch to once again load the bases and a passed ball by Mollicone allowed Fournier to score. After Barrett struck out, Tyler Youngs singled to center to score a pair. Jimmy Freund followed with a double, his first extra-base hit of the year, making it 5-0 and sending Martinez to the dugout.
The top of Mason's order came to the plate again in the second and they once again did some damage. York reached on an error by third baseman Jordan Lert, advanced to second on a Fournier groundout and went to third on a Looze groundout. An error by second baseman Adler on Innerst's grounder allowed York to score. The inning stayed alive on another error, this time when Jacobsen grounded to shortstop Rich Goulian. That mistake put runners on second and third and Barrett made Fordham pay with a two-run single to center.
Fordham cut into the lead in the fourth when the Rams strung together three hits. Mollicone led off with a single and Greg Smith followed with a double that sent Mollicone to third. Lert followed with a single to center that scored both runners. After that Hitz got Brian Keeney to groundout, Goulian to fly out and Adler to strike out to end the threat.
Tyler Wingerd pitched two scoreless innings in relief for Mason. Thomas Davis was excellent in relief for Fordham, going the final six innings, allowing no runs and just six hits while walking three and striking out two. In 12 innings this season, he has not allowed an earned run.
Mason is scheduled to play next on Monday against Virginia Tech at 2:30 p.m. That game had orginially been scheduled for Tuesday. Josh Morrison (0-0) will get the start for Mason.
