May 27, 2005
Box Score
The George Mason baseball team overcame a nemesis on Friday and as a result, the Patriots will continue to play in the six-team, double-elimination Colonial Athletic Association Baseball Tournament as the Patriots overcame a 4-0 deficit, scoring seven runs in the sixth to down the tournament's host and No. 1 seed, UNC Wilmington, 9-7.
Second-seeded Mason scored five runs off of UNC Wilmington starter Jeff Moore who had not allowed an earned run to Mason in his first 19 and two-thirds innings of work against the Patriots. Once he was out of the game, the Patriots added four more runs to put the game out of reach. Along the way, Mason, the conference's worst fielding team in the regular season, set a CAA Tournament record by turning five double plays and the two teams combined for a tournament-record seven double plays.
Chris Looze hit a record-breaking two-run homer to start Mason's scoring, Chris Fournier and Adam Innerst had two-run doubles in the sixth and Casey Slattery hit a three-run homer to ice the big inning as Mason improved to 10-1 all-time against the Seahawks in the CAA Tournament and 1-3 on the year against UNC Wilmington.
The Patriots will return to Brooks Field on Friday night for a 7 p.m. game against Virginia Commonwealth. The Rams defeated Mason 8-3 on Thursday night. Mason's season will end with a loss to VCU while the Rams have not yet lost yet in the tournament.
Things started well for Mason as starter Jared Petrovich allowed just two hits in the first three innings. But the fourth inning proved dangerous for the Patriots.
Tim Preston led off with a single, his 102nd hit of the season, a new CAA record for hits in a season. The next batter was John Raynor, and he proceeded to punish the ball, launching it over the leftfield wall. Matt Poulk followed Raynor with a home run to center and after Daniel Hargrave struck out, Mark Carver homered to left for a 4-0 lead.
The Patriots (35-18) finally found a way to score off of Moore in the bottom of the fifth. Jimmy Freund singled to lead off the inning but Matt Cooksey grounded into a double play, just the second time he has done so in 2005. Fournier followed with a two-out walk and Looze homered to right-center to make it 4-2.
For Looze, it was the 46th home run of his career, a Mason school record. Looze had shared the mark with Ralph Schmidt, who hit 45 home runs from 1984-85 and 87-88. Looze also extended his school record for career RBI to 201.
The Seahawks (40-19) made it a three-run lead in the sixth with a leadoff walk by Raynor, single by Poulk to put runners on the corners and a double-play ball by Hargrave that allowed Raynor to score.
Mason finally broke through in the sixth with three straight one-out singles by Matt York, Tyler Youngs and Jimmy Freund, ending the day for Moore. Allen Flood came on in relief for the Seahawks and he got Matt Cooksey to pop out before Fournier doubled to left-center to make it 5-4.
After Looze was intentionally walked to load the bases, Innerst doubled to left to give Mason its first lead of the game, a 6-5 edge. That's when Slattery stepped to the plate, and he launched three-run homer to right-center that went almost as far as his grand slam in Wednesday's game.
The Patriots struggled to close out the Seahawks, however. With one out in the eighth, Preston reached on a fielding error by Fournier. After Raynor walked, Poulk doubled to center to score the pair and make it 9-7. Jason Mills came on in relief and after walking the first two batters he faced, he induced Jonathan Batts to hit into a double play to end the threat.
Petrovich pitched five-plus innings for Mason, allowing five runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Tyler Wingerd (3-1) earned the win despite allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits and one walk in two and one-third innings of work. Jason Mills pitched one and two-third innings hitless innings for his sixth save.
Moore, who was the winning pitcher against Mason in the 2004 Tournament game that eliminated the Patriots, allowed five runs on right hits with two walks and one strikeout. Flood (6-3) took the loss, surrendering four runs on three hits and a walk in one-third of an inning. Adam Paul allowed just one hit in one and one-third innings while Zach Booker pitched the final inning, allowing no runs on no hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
