May 21, 2005
Box Score
A number of good things happened for the George Mason baseball team on Saturday afternoon. It started with the Patriots sweeping a doubleheader from James Madison and it ended with Mason in position to earn the second seed in next week's CAA Baseball Tournament. The Patriots defeated James Madison 7-3 in the opener and 8-2 in the nightcap at Spuhler Field in Fairfax. Mason improved to 32-17, 14-9 on the season.
The Patriots are a half-game ahead of Virginia Commonwealth, which ended its regular season with a 14-10 CAA mark after an 8-7 loss at home to Delaware on Saturday. Should Mason defeat James Madison on Sunday in the series finale, the Patriots would earn the second seed. A loss would give VCU the second seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker, as the Rams won 2 of 3 meetings between the teams this year.
Mason jumped out early on the Dukes (20-34, 8-15) in both games. In the opener, Mason grabbed a 1-0 lead on Adam Innerst's solo homer in the second. Casey Slattery singled, went to second on a sacrifice and scored on a Josh Campbell single. Campbell went to second on the play and scored on a Jimmy Freund single, to make it 3-0. James Madison closed to 3-1 in the third as Rob Altieri singled, went to second on a sacrifice, advanced to third on a Davis Stoneburner single and scored on a double-steal.
Mason quickly made it 6-1, though, as Chris Fournier hit a one-out double in the third, Chris Looze singled to put runners on the corners and Innerst hit a three-run homer, his 11th of the year, to make it a five-run lead. James Madison scored its second run of the game in the fourth on Dan Santobiano's solo home run.
In the fifth, Looze hit a historic home run to put Mason ahead, 7-2. It was the 45th homer of Looze's career, tying him with Ralph Schmidt for first place on Mason's all-time list. Schmidt set his mark from 1984-88 while Looze has need just three seasons to tie him.
James Madison made it 7-3 in the seventh after Matt Bristow doubled and scored on an Altieri double. The Dukes threatened with two-on and none-out in the eighth but reliever Jason Mills entered the game, striking out the first two batters before getting a flyout to end the threat. Mills struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save of the year and the 100th strikeout of his career. He is currently second on the Mason all-time saves list with nine. Brent Hitz earned the win in the opener, improving to 4-4 on the year.
In the second game, Mason got a second-inning RBI single by Fournier to score Jacobsen who had singled and stolen second. In the third, Cooksey hit a one-out solo home run to make it 2-0 and then the wheels came off for the Dukes. Innerst hit a two-out double, Slattery walked and Jacobsen doubled to score the pair. Fournier followed with a two-run home run and a 6-0 lead.
The Dukes scored in the fourth off reliever J.J. Pannell as Michael Cowgill doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a Nate Schill single. Mason made it 7-2 in the fifth when Jacobsen singled, stole second and scored on a Tyler Youngs double. James Madison cut into the lead in the sixth with a solo home run by Cowgill, but Mason made it a six-run lead in the sixth as Matt York singled, Looze walked and Innerst doubled home York.
Stacen Gant was superb in the start, but he went just three innings in preparation for the CAA Tournament, which begins on Wednesday. Gant allowed two hits and no walks while striking out four in three innings. Pannell allowed six hits and two runs with no walks and four strikeouts in four innings. He got the win to improve to 2-1. The two losses by James Madison means the Dukes can not make the six-team CAA Tournament.
Sunday's game begins at 1 p.m. with an alumni cookout beginning at Noon. Prior to the game, Mason will honor the 1985 team while 20 years ago became the first Mason baseball team to make an NCAA Regional. Also prior to the game, Mason will honor its seven seniors in the final home game of their careers.
