April 2, 2006

Box Score

Courtesy of Drexel Sports Information

Philadelphia, Pa. - Ashlee Veilleux (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Oaks Christian) took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but ended up scrambling to save a victory as Drexel (8-17, 3-3 CAA) held on to defeat George Mason 3-2. The win sews up Drexel's three-game sweep of the Patriots (1-33, 1-4 CAA) and evens the Dragons' record at 3-3 in conference play.

Freshman Lisa Williams (Milton, Del/Cape Henlope), who is one of five Dragons hitting better than .300, went 2-for-3 with an RBI double. Williams has now reached base in 24 of the team's 25 games this season. Veilleux and Amanda Hastings (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Central) drove in the other two Drexel runs.

Drexel scored all of its runs in the third inning. Kristen Beaver (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Williams hit a slicing ball into the leftfield corner for an RBI double. Christina Rodriguez (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) roped a single to centerfield and Veilleux pushed over one more run with a single to right field. Hastings brought Rodriguez in on an RBI groundout which gave Drexel a 3-0 lead that it would hold for the duration of the game George Mason threatened in the sixth inning when Veilleux walked two batters and a wild pitch put them on second and third with two outs. One more walk loaded the bases, but Veilleux settled down to get pinch hitter Sarah Martin to pop up to second base for the final out.

The Patriots put together a rally in the seventh inning when the first two batters reached on errors. Veilleux got Emily Miller, the number three hitter to ground out. She then walked the cleanup hitter, Kelcey Mack, to load the bases. Kristen Dickel pulled a double down the left field line, the Patriots' first hit of the day, to make it a 3-2 game. Another ground out brought Kat Winter to the plate with runners on second and third and two outs. Winter worked a full count and then Veilleux popped her up on a rise ball. Dacey tracked down the wind-blown, towering foul ball for the last out of the game.

After throwing her second no-hitter of the season in yesterday's first game, Veilleux just missed repeating the feat for a third time. She gave up one hit in seven innings, but of George Mason's runs were unearned. The Patriots watched their way to eight walks in the game and Veilleux struck out four batters. The Patriots stranded 11 runners on the basepaths.

The sweep is Drexel's first of the season and first conference sweep since the Dragons took a three-game series against James Madison last season.

Arielle Weinkofsky took the loss for George Mason, despite pitching a solid game. She surrendered three runs on five hits while striking out three batters without a walk.

Drexel is on the road this week, playing a doubleheader against Lafayette at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5 before heading to Towson for a weekend series with the CAA rival Tigers.