April 17, 2007
Box Score
The George Mason baseball team got strong starting pitching from Mike Modica, put runs on the board in six straight innings, and got a clutch save from Jordan Flasher as the Patriots downed Longwood, 6-4 on Tuesday in non-conference college baseball action.
Mason (18-18) struck first, putting one on the board behind a pair of hits and a walk. Scott Krieger led off with an infield single and he advanced to second on a throwing error. He would have been there one batter later regardless as Justin Bour walked to put two men on with no outs. Jason Bour followed with a hard single up the middle, making it 1-0. Mason later had the bases loaded with one out but Brent Weiss grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Longwood (29-12) quickly responded. Having already walked the leadoff batter in the first and second innings, Modica walked Tyler Ames to lead off the third. Robbie Bailey then singled to left and Phil Cerrato's sacrifice bunt moved the pair into scoring position. Jon Quigley delivered with a double down the left field line for a 2-1 lead.
Mason tied the game in the bottom of the frame as Chris Fournier reached on a two-out single when his grounder to first took a bad hop. He later stole second and scored on Scott Krieger's bloop single to center. Mason took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Jason Bour led off with a double into the leftfield corner, went to third on a Mike Laird single and scored on a Dan Palumbo ground out.
The Patriots kept the momentum going in the fifth as Chris Henderson led off the inning by reaching second on a throwing error and he scored on a one-out Fournier single to center. In the sixth, Mason made it five straight innings putting a run on the board. Pinch-hitter Chris Romanow led off with a single to right, went to second on a Palumbo sacrifice bunt, took third on a Weiss single and scored on a Henderson sacrifice fly.
Modica, meanwhile, was cruising along, facing the minimum after the two-run double in the third. A strikeout and lineout got him out of that threat, a pickoff in the fourth took care of a runner who had reached on a two-out single and a pickoff in the fifth eliminated the leadoff batter, who had been hit by a pitch. Modica finally got through an inning without allowing a base runner in the sixth when he struck out the first two batters and got the third to pop out. He also retired the first two in the seventh before Topher Ellis reached on an infield single. But Modica finished the day strong getting Ames to pop out to third. His final line read two runs on four hits in seven innings with three walks and a career-high eight strikeouts.
Krieger gave the Patriots some insurance in the seventh when he hit a monumental blast, a home run to left that landed on the track in George Mason Stadium and eventually came to rest near the center of the lacrosse field. It was Krieger's 16th homer of the season, tying him for sixth-most in a single season in school history. His run would be needed as reliever T.J. O'Grady struggled in the eighth, giving up a leadoff double to Bailey and a one-out walk to Quigley that put runners on the corners. A wild pitch made it 6-3 and a single by Tyler Childress made it 6-4. That brought on Flasher who got the final five outs to pick up his seventh save of the season, tying him for second on the school's all-time list with 11 in his career.
The Patriots will return to action on Thursday when they play at Navy at 4 p.m. Mason will then return home to play a weekend series against Chicago State. Friday's game is at 3 p.m., Saturday's at 2 p.m. and Sunday's at 1 p.m.
