April 25, 2006
Box Score
The George Mason baseball team played well for six innings against Liberty. Unfortunately, the other three innings did not go quite as well. Liberty had a six-run fourth inning, a five-run eighth inning and a four-run ninth inning as the Flames ended Mason's chances of grabbing a mid-week home win as Liberty downed the Patriots 18-4 at Spuhler Field in non-conference action.
Each team got on the board early in the contest. Chad Miller and Michael Just led off the game with walks and Miller came home to score on Patrick Gaillard's two-out single to left. For Mason, Spencer Wiggins led off with a single to center and Robby Jacobsen followed with a home run to left-center. For Jacobsen it was his ninth homer of the season and he needs one more homer to become the first player in Mason history with 30 homers and 30 steals.
The Patriots (14-26) added a run in the third when Matt York singled to right, Scott Krieger doubled to right-center to put two runners in scoring position, and Jason Bour singled to left to make it 3-1. That dove Andrew Wilson from the game but Ryan Page (8-1) came in and got Mike Genovese to ground into a double play. Liberty (32-11) countered in the top of the fourth with a solo homer from P.K. Keller and a two-run blast from David Giammaresi two batters later, putting the Flames ahead, 4-3. That lead grew when the next batter, Errol Hollinger, also went deep. It was the first time Liberty hit back-to-back homers since 2005.
The damage was far from over in the inning. Miller and Just hit back-to-back singles to end the day for Mason starter Jared Petrovich (0-3). Billy Tinsley came on in relief and on his first pitch, Miller and Just executed a double steal. Bour's throw to second was high and Miller scored on the error. It didn't matter, though, as Aaron Grijalva followed with an RBI double to make it 7-3. Tinsley then retired Phillip Laurent and Gaillard to end the six-run inning.
Inn the sixth, Miller led off with a single, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Grijalva to make it 8-3. Mason finally put a mark on Page's line in the bottom of the sixth when Genovese singled to left, ending a string of 10 straight retired by the lefthander. But Brett Pomykala lined out to short to end the threat before it began. In the seventh, Liberty played some more small ball. Gaillard was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bennion.
Liberty's final runs came off reliever Eric Gibbons. Michael Just had a leadoff single against Gibbons in the eighth and Grijalva homered to make it 11-3. Laurent was then hit by a pitch, Gaillard reached on an error and Larent scored on a single by Keller. A bloop single by Bennion loaded the bases. Giammaresi followed with a two-run single to make it 14-3. After a strikeout, Miller singled to load the bases again and Jordan Flasher came on ending Gibbons' outing. Flasher got a pair of strikeouts to put out the fire.
Brian Winings pitched the ninth for Mason, his first appearance on the mound since the last time Mason faced Liberty on March 29, an 11-2 win for the Flames. He allowed four runs on four hits. Mason's final run came in the ninth when Pomykala led off with a double, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Mike Laird groundout.
Mason is back in action on Wednesday when the Patriots play at Temple. Liberty is in action this weekend at home against Birmingham-Southern. Tuesday saw Liberty reach a season-high in runs and hits.
