March 30, 2007

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. - The hustle and fundamentals of senior Barrett Ripley (Glen Allen, Va./Hermitage) led the Virginia Commonwealth University past the visiting Patriots of George Mason University, 4-3, on Friday evening in Colonial Athletic Association action. The Rams improve to 16-10 overall and 3-3 in the CAA, while the Patriots fall to 11-14 overall and 7-5 in conference play.

The game was a battle throughout as senior right-hander John Leonard (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) and Mason starter J.J. Pannell fought through several jams to give their teams the opportunity to win at the end of the game.

After Leonard fought through a Patriots threat in the top of the first, the Rams scored in one of the most unusual ways. Freshman outfielder Matt Leskiw (Plains, Pa./James) reached on an error by Mason second basemen Chris Fournier. After Leskiw stole second, Pannell bounced back with back-to-back strikeouts. With an 0-2 count to Leonard, a wild pitch allowed Leskiw to move to third. On a third strike that got away from the Patriots backstop, Leskiw scored and Leonard reached first as the Black and Gold took an early 1-0 advantage. For the inning, Pannell registered four strikeouts, but the Rams were able to scratch out the early run.

The Patriots would threaten Leonard right away as they loaded the bases with no outs with a base-on-balls, a single and a Rams error. Sophomore Justin Wright (Yorktown, Va./Grafton) made a stellar play on a foul out, before Brent Weiss drove in the tying run with a fielder's choice to even the game at 1-1 after two complete innings.

Weiss struck again in the top of the fourth inning as he stroked a single through the middle to score Jason Bour, who had reached on a double, to give Mason a 2-1 lead. Fournier would extend the lead in the top of the fifth as he launched a homerun over the left field wall to push the Patriots advantage to 3-1.

Leonard kept on battling and keeping the Mason offense at bay until the Rams threatened in the home half of the sixth inning. Sophomore Jared Bolden (Lynchburg, Va./E.C. Glass) led off the frame with a single and Ripley followed with an infield single of his own, and sophomore Chris Jackson (Midlothian, Va./Manchester) loaded the bases for the Rams with a third consecutive single.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Wright battled Pannell and lofted a sacrifice fly into right field to score Bolden, with Ripley advancing to third on the play. Junior Kwan Evans (Hampton, Va./Bethel) connected on a foul out to Fournier down the right field line, and Ripley hustled home to even the game at 3-3 after six frames.

The Black and Gold bullpen was phenomenal once again as senior Mick Mattaliano (Pottstown, Pa./Saint Pius X) and junior Luke Pisker (Oley, Pa./Oley Valley) combined to shutout the Mason offense over the final three innings. Mattaliano pushed his scoreless innings streak to 20.2 innings.

The Rams put the pressure on Patriots reliever Jordan Flasher as Leskiw reached on an error by Weiss to leadoff the bottom of the ninth. After Leskiw moved to second on a wild pitch, junior Sergio Miranda (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/PRBA) stroked a single down past the Mason third basemen to put runners at first and third with no outs. Bolden was walked intentionally for the second time in the game to give Ripley center stage. Ripley came through as he lifted a 3-2 pitch from Flasher into right field to score Leskiw on a sacrifice fly and give the Rams a 4-3 victory.

Pitching was the story as Leonard allowed just two earned runs, walked just two and struck out four in 6.1 innings of work. Mattaliano allowed just two hits and struck out three Mason hitters in his two innings and Pisker picked up the victory to improve to 4-0 on the season.

Eight different Rams collected hits in the contest, with Jackson having the only multi-hit performance as the sophomore went 2-for-4 to extend his career-best hitting streak to 12 straight games.

The Rams and Patriots face off in the second game of the pivotal CAA series on Saturday afternoon with first pitch set for 2 p.m. at the Diamond.