March 18, 2007

Box Score

The George Mason baseball team split a doubleheader with Northeastern on Sunday as J.J. Pannell pitched a complete game in the opener, allowing just one earned run on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts but leadoff walks to the Huskies in the second game led to some easy runs and Kris Dabrowiecki had a dominant performance on the mound. The first game went to Mason, 6-2, while the second game went to Northeastern 5-3.

The series had originally been scheduled to be played in Boston but was moved on Wednesday to Fairfax due to the snow in the forecast for New England. The poor weather in Virginia, however, caused the cancellation of Friday's game and the teams had to cut the three-game series to a doubleheader. Despite being played at Spuhler Field, Mason (8-9, 5-3) was the visitor while Northeastern (5-5, 2-3) was the home team.

Mason's win in the first game snapped a three-game losing streak and was Mason's first-ever win over Northeastern in four games. The Patriots' loss in the second game kept the Patriots from their third-straight series win against a Colonial Athletic Association foe.

Mason took control of the first game in the third when Brent Weiss and Chris Fournier walked and Scott Krieger homered to dead center, extending his hit streak to 12 games. In the fifth, Mason got another run when Fournier singled, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Krieger double. In the sixth, Chris Henderson and Ryan Uphouse singled with one out and Weiss and Fournier drove them in with back-to-back two-out singles.

Pannell was in trouble just twice in his seven-inning complete game, in the third and fifth innings. In the third, after Mason had taken the lead, Anthony DiCesare walked, Mike Tamsin singled and Dan Milano doubled to make it 3-1. A fielding error on the double allowed Tamsin to score and Northeastern was within a run. In the fifth, a single and another fielding error put two runners on but Pannell got a strikeout to end the threat.

In the second game, the Patriots struck first when Henderson scored on a Dan Palumbo but the Huskies took their first lead of the day in the bottom of the second on a two-run homer by Frank Pesanello, his second of the year. The score remained 2-1 until Northeastern's next at-bat when they used a lead-off walk, a bunt single and a single to center to make it 3-1 and chase Mason starter Mike Modica. Dan Jaycox came on in relief and he got three fly outs to end the inning, although Tamsin's sacrifice fly did make it 4-1.

In the fourth, Mason squandered a leadoff single by Chris Romanow that eventually led to a bases loaded situation. The Patriots also wasted a leadoff double from Fournier in the fifth as Krieger and Justin Bour each struck out for the third time in the game and Romanow struck out as well. That was part of a stretch in which starter Kris Dabrowiecki struck out five straight. He struck out the side three times in the first six innings.

In the seventh, Weiss and Fournier walked to lead off the inning but Krieger grounded into a fielder's choice and Justin Bour struck out for the fourth time. Things looked bleak as Romanow faced a 1-2 count but he tripled deep to right field to make it 4-3 and end Dabrowiecki's day. The junior had 14 strikeouts in six and two-third innings but threw 137 pitches. Reliever Sheldon McDonald got Henderson to ground out, though, to end the rally.

After retiring the first 12 batters he faced, Jaycox finally gave up a hit in the bottom of the seventh as Mike Lyon homered to left to lead off the inning for a 5-3 Northeastern lead. Josh Porter followed with a single but Jaycox struck out Dave Fisher before giving way to reliever Jordan Flasher. The Patriots seemed poised to rally in the eighth behind a Jason Bour leadoff single but a double-play ball erased the base runner as Mason went in order.

Since hitting seven homers in three games to win several National Player of the Week awards, Justin Bour is now 1 for 21 with a single. In that same span, Jason Bour is just 2 of 19. Meanwhile, there has become little doubt that as Krieger goes, so go the Patriots. He is hitting .667 with eight homers and 24 RBI in Mason's eight wins, .211 with no homers and five RBI in Mason's nine losses. He did manage to extend his hitting streak to 13 games with a ninth-inning single but Henderson had his 12-game hitting streak snapped in the second game.

Mason returns to action on Tuesday when the Patriots host Navy at 2:30 p.m. at Spuhler Field.