May 25, 2005

Box Score

The George Mason baseball team is nearly unbeatable when scoring the game's first run but they struggle when trailing after five. Something had to give on Wednesday in the opening round of the six-team double-elimination CAA Baseball Tournament and fortunately for Mason, the Patriots were able to overcome a 3-1 fifth-inning deficit as the Patriots downed Delaware 9-5 at Brooks Field in Wilmington, N.C.

The Patriots (34-17), the tournament's second seed, were facing Delaware in the opening round for the second straight season. Last year, Mason was the tournament's top seed but lost to Delaware (26-30) in the first game of the tournament. On Wednesday, it looked like the scenario would repeat itself.

Mason scored the game's first run when Matt York led off the first by reaching on an error and Matt Cooksey followed with a double to center to put runners on second and third. Chris Looze struck out swinging before York scored on a wild pitch to give Mason a 1-0 lead. Entering the game, the Patriots were 22-3 when scoring first.

Mason starter Stacen Gant was perfect through three innings before Todd Davison hit a one-out double in the fourth and Kelly Buber followed with a two-run home run that bounced off the top of the wall in left-center field to give Delaware a 2-1 lead. The lead went to 3-1 when Dan Richardson hit a solo home run to lead off the fifth. Entering the game, the Patriots were 5-14 when trailing after five.

Meanwhile, Delaware starter Mike McGuire was on cruise control. After Innerst walked in the first, he began a streak in which he retired 14 straight batters before York reached on a strike out in the sixth when the ball got away from catcher Brian Valichka. During that stretch, McGuire at one point struck out five straight Patriots. After York reached on the strikeout, though, things fell apart quickly for McGuire.

Cooksey and Looze followed York with walks to load the bases and after Innerst struck out, Casey Slattery hit the first grand slam of his career, putting Mason on top 5-3.

The Blue Hens rallied for a run in the seventh when Dan Richardson led off with a double, went to third on a single by Ryan Graham and scored on a fielding error by Matt Cooksey. Delaware tie the game in the eighth when Brian Valichka singled on reliever J.J. Pannell's first pitch and Adam Tsakonas singled on his second. His third pitch was a double-play ball that moved Valichka to third and he scored the tying run on a passed ball.

Once again forced into a tight game, the Patriots made certain they wouldn't be batting in the bottom of the ninth when Chris Fournier hit a two-out solo home run to give Mason a 6-5 lead. Tyler Youngs followed that with his third home run of the season to chase reliever Matt Heckert. Chad Kerfoot didn't fare much better as he gave up a double to Jimmy Freund, an RBI single to York and a triple to Cooksey, making it 9-5. Jason Mills pitched the ninth-inning for Mason.

J.J. Pannell (3-1) earned the win for Mason despite allowing a run and three hits in one inning. Stacen Gant settled for a no decision after allowing four runs, three earned in seven innings while giving up seven hits, three walks and striking out seven. Gant ran his season strikeout total to 92 on the year, breaking the old single-season school record of 88 set by Mike Draper in 1988. Gant had 87 strikeouts last year and has 246 on his career, also a school record. Heckert (1-3) took the loss after allowing two runs on three hits with one walk in one and two-thirds innings.

Mason will next play on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Virginia Commonwealth, which rallied for a 6-5 win over Towson on Wednesday. The Rams gave up four runs in the first and trailed 5-0 after four before scoring three in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the eighth for the victory. Brent Hitz will start Thursday's game for Mason.