May. 1, 2005
Box Score
Fairfax, Va. (May 1, 2005)--George Mason and Towson split a doubleheader today, Towson winning 6-1 in the first seven-inning game and Mason winning 5-4 in twilight action. Both teams are 9-9 in conference play, George Mason (26-15) and Towson (24-19) overall.
In the first game, Towson's first two batters Shane Justis and Adam Heffron hit solo homeruns off Mason's ace pitcher Stacen Gant (8-2) to take the 2-0 lead in the first. Gant got out of the inning after giving up a single and a double to the next two batters, Casper Wells and Jason Maxey, but got out of the jam by striking out Mark Chiccini and getting Ryan Schreiter to pop out. After loading the bases on a Hans Falkenhan walk, Gant struck out Pat Fields to end the inning.
The Tigers would get two more in the third inning after lead-off batter Maxey walked and Chiccini homered. Chiccini would homer in the fifth as well and single in the sixth to lead the Tigers with three hits in four plate appearances and three RBI.
Mason scored its only run in the third inning with a Chris Looze homerun, his 11th of the season and 43rd career. Matt Cooksey, batting before Looze in the line-up, singled to center and stole second, his 100th career steal, but got caught trying to stretch to third after catcher Schreiter lost the ball, but was thrown out by the catcher.
Towson's Travis Tyler went 5 and 2/3 innings for the win to even his record to 3-3. Stacen Gant took only his second loss of the season after pitching six innings, giving up 11 hits, four walks, but striking out 10 batters. Towson stole six bases without getting caught with Justis safe on all three attempts.
(Second Game)
Patriots Take Twilight Game, 5-4
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Patriots were tied or winning in all but the fourth inning, but needed the ninth inning to secure the win. Mason scored in the first inning after Chris Looze was on first with a two-out walk and Adam Innerst hit a two-run homerun. Towson countered in the second with one run off two hits.
Towson scored two more runs in the fourth with a lead-off homerun by Falkenhan and a Heffron RBI single to centerfield, scoring Jeremy Stifler, who single to left and stole second.
In the fifth inning, the Patriots scored two runs on back-to-back homeruns by Jimmy Freund and Mike Genovese. Freund was 3-for-3 in the game with one RBI. Towson's starting pitcher Casper Wells was relieved by Jason Summerlin after four and two-thirds innings.
Pitcher J.J. Pannell would relieve Mason's starting pitcher Brent Hitz in the sixth inning. Hitz gave up three runs on nine hits. Pannell pitched three scoreless innings, as he walked only one Tiger batter and struck out two.
Mason's Jason Mills came to the mound to start the ninth inning with a 4-3 lead. The Tigers Heffron tripled to center to lead off the inning. Wells, Towson's starting pitcher, was also the designated hitter in the contest, single to center, scoring the tying run. Maxey struck out for the first out. Chiccini singled to right and stole second base. Schrieter struck out for the second out. Mills intentionally walked Falkenhan to load the bases. Fields grounded out to third for the unassisted final out.
Jacobsen got on board with a lead-off double in the ninth. Freund bunted to sacrifice the runner to third. Genovese flied out to shallow right field. Cooksey was intentionally walked and advanced to second on the next pitch without a throw. Towson brought in reliever Jon Tapper and walked York to load the bases. Chris Looze walked in the winning run for the Patriots.
Jason Mills earned the win (3-0), giving up three hits and striking out two in the ninth inning. Jon Summerlin takes the loss after pitching four innings, giving up one run and striking out three.
On the day, the Tigers stole 12 bases with Shane Justis safely in on five attempts. Nine homeruns were witnessed, five in game one and four homeruns in game two. The Patriots got homeruns from Innerst, Freund, Genovese and Looze
The Patriots will play two non-conference games this week at Navy on Tuesday and University of Maryland Baltimore on Thursday before CAA action on the weekend at Delaware.
