April 28, 2006
Box Score
The George Mason baseball team opened a three-game series with Hofstra on Friday and Mason rode strong starting pitching and good hitting throughout the order to down the Pride 10-2 in Colonial Athletic Association action. Scott Krieger, Casey Slattery, Tyler Youngs and Spencer Wiggins each had multiple hits for Mason while J.J. Pannell had his second straight strong start as Mason moved into sole possession of eighth place in the conference standings.
The Patriots and Hofstra entered the game tied for eighth in the CAA and the two teams will meet again on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Brent Hitz is scheduled to start for Mason on Saturday while Will Devito is slated to take the mound for the Pride. Hofstra came into the game fresh off a three-game sweep of second-place James Madison and the Pride were on top early before Mason scored 10 unanswered runs.
In the third, Hofstra got on the board behind three singles. Steve Oliveri led off the inning with a single to right and he went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nick Panzarella. After Andrew Campana struck out, Anthony Sarno singled to left to bring home Oliveri. Sarno went to second on the play and scored on Ricky Caputo's single to right, making it 2-0.
Mason responded in the bottom of the inning behind a pair of long balls. Tyler Youngs led off the inning with his first homer of the year, one that landed over the Starbolt in right-centerfield. Brent Weiss followed with a single and Robby Jacobsen then hit a one-out home run down the rightfield line to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead. It was Jacobsen's 11th homer of the year and the third straight game in which he's put one out of the yard.
The Patriots threatened to add to their lead, loading the bases and chasing starter Ryan Dunn, but Jason Bour hit into a double play for the second straight inning. Mason did add to the lead in the fourth when Ryan Uphouse was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, stole second, and scored on Spencer Wiggins' two-out single to left.
Five more Mason runs came in the sixth as Uphouse led off with a single and Youngs followed with a triple to make it 5-2. Reliever Charlie Frago was lifted for David Huth and he got Brent Weiss to ground to third for what should have been the first out of the inning. But Caputo threw the ball in the dirt allowing Weiss to reach safely and Youngs to score on the play.
With one out, Jacobsen reached on a fielder's choice that eliminated Weiss from the basepaths. York and Krieger followed with walks to load the bases and Casey Slattery singled home Jacobsen and York to make it 8-2. A wild pitch allowed Krieger to score, making it a seven-run advantage.
Pannell, meanwhile, was working his way comfortably through the Hofsta order. After allowing those three hits in the third, he did not give up another base hit until the seventh, when Oliveri had a leadoff bloop double just inside the leftfield foul line. He struck out Panzarella, got Campana to ground out to third and induced Sarno to fly out to left. Phil Stone came on in the eighth, hit the first two batters and walked the third before getting a 1-2-3 double play and a fly ball to work out of the bases-loaded no-outs jam.
Pannell (2-4) earned the win for Mason. He had a 7.98 ERA after a relief appearance against James Madison but he's lowered that to 6.33 after allowing just four earned runs in 15 and two-third innings over his past two starts. On Friday, he allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings of work, walking three, hitting two and striking out seven. Dunn (4-4) took the loss, giving up three runs in two and one-third innings of work. Pannell, Stone and Billy Tinsley, who worked the ninth for Mason, were helped by four double plays.
