May 6, 2005

Box Score

Stacen Gant brought his best stuff to the mound with him on Friday at Newark, Del. and the George Mason baseball team gave him the run support he needed as Gant was able to cruise to a 9-0 win over the Delaware Blue Hens in Colonial Athletic Association action. It was Gant's first shutout since April 24, 2004 when he downed Virginia Commonwealth, 10-0.

Gant (9-2) broke the Mason record for career appearances with his 64th. He already holds the school record for career wins (25), career innings (284.3) and career strikeouts (235). His final line on Friday was no runs on three hits with two walks and nine strikeouts on 112 pitches.

Senior centerfielder Matt Cooksey tied a one-year old school record when he scored the 205th run of his career in the fourth inning. That tied Jeff Palumbo's mark which was set in 2004.

Both Gant and Delaware starter Mike McGuire (5-4) held the opposition scoreless through the first three innings until Mason was able to breakthrough for a pair of runs in the fourth. Matt Cooksey led off with a single, Mason's first hit on the day, stole second and scored on Chris Looze's double to right-center. Looze went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an Adam Innerst groundout. In the fifth, Mason added another run when Chris Fournier led off with a single, went to second on a Jimmy Freund sacrifice fly and scored on a Tyler Youngs double to right. Youngs was picked off second later in the inning to end the threat.

Mason (28-16, 10-9) mounted another rally in the sixth when Cooksey led off with a walk but he was thrown out stealing for just the third time in 35 attempts this year. Looze followed with a one-out single and Innerst was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. After Casey Slattery flied out to left, Robby Jacobsen homered to right, his seventh homer of the season, making it 6-0 and ending McGuire's day.

Mason added insurance runs in the ninth as Chris Garrick allowed a leadoff hit to Chris Fournier and followed that with four pitch walks to Freund and Youngs. After Matt York struck out, the runners advanced on a wild pitch, plating Fournier. Freund scored on a Cooksey ground out. The inning kept going when Looze walked and Innerst doubled to make it 9-0.

Gant, meanwhile, was as dominant as he's been in the past two seasons, when he has run off a 19-3 record. After Kelly Buber's single in the fourth, Delaware (21-23, 9-10) did not manage another hit until Buber's single in the ninth. Between then, Gant allowed just a walk in the sixth and a walk in the eighth, both to Brian Kozek.

The two teams play again on Saturday with a 1 p.m. start time. Mason sends Brent Hitz (3-4) to the mound against Brent Gaphardt (2-5).