March 15, 2007
The George Mason baseball team, with very little notice, will play host to Northeastern this weekend in a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series. The games had originally been scheduled to be played in Boston, but snow is in the forecast on Friday and Saturday, so the decision was made on Wednesday to move the series to Spuhler Field. Friday's game starts at 3 p.m., Saturday's at 2 p.m. and Sunday's at 1 p.m.
The Patriots are currently on a three-game losing streak after having won five straight. The difference has been at the plate and in the field rather than on the mound. The Patriots' pitching is allowing less than half an earned run more in the three losses, although the opposition is hitting .040 higher. But the Patriots allowed just two unearned runs in their five wins while there have been six unearned runs in the past three losses.
The Patriots are batting just .264 during the losing streak, and after going 10 for 16 with seven home runs and 19 RBI over a three-game stretch last week during which he won numerous National Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors, Justin Bour is just 1 of 13 with no extra-base hits and four strikeouts. His brother, Jason, is just 1 of 12.
While Mason is 5-0 when Justin Bour homers and 2-8 when he is kept in the yard, the more telling statistic is the production of leftfielder Scott Krieger in Mason's wins and losses. Krieger leads the team with a .424 average and his seven homers and 25 RBI are each one shy of the team lead. In Mason's wins, he is hitting .692 with all seven of his homers and 20 of his RBI and just four strikeouts. In the eight losses, he is hitting .212 with five RBI and 12 strikeouts.
Krieger is seventh in the CAA in batting, fourth in RBI and third in the CAA. Justin Bour is tied for first in the CAA in homers and he is tied for second in RBI. Teammate Chris Fournier, who has a hit in 14 of 15 games this year, is tied with Bour for the league lead in homers. Mason leads the CAA in home runs and batting average.
Northeastern, however, might be one of the few teams in the CAA that can keep the Mason bats cool. The Huskies lead the CAA in ERA with a 3.82 mark. But the Huskies have allowed 19 unearned runs to score in eight games and are last in the league in fielding percentage. The Patriots can expect to see Kris Dabrowiecki, Jeff Thomson and Trevor Smith. Dabrowiecki has not allowed an earned run in 13 innings over two starts and he is 1-0. Thomson is 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 16.2 innings and Smith is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 11 innings. Mason is likely to counter with J.J. Pannell, Mike Modica and Dan Jaycox.
The last time the teams meet was in the final three games of last season, a Northeastern sweep at Spuhler Field. Dabrowiecki allowed five runs on eight hits in four and two-third innings with a no decision in a 12-5 Northeastern win. Smith picked up a win in relief in the series' second game, allowing one run in four innings on four hits. He also pitched two-thirds of an inning in the series' opening game without allowing a hit. Thomson went one inning in the series' first game, allowing three hits but no runs.
