April 19, 2007

Box Score

Annapolis, Md. - The George Mason baseball team traveled to Annapolis, Md. on Thursday to take on Navy and the Patriots sent top starter J.J. Pannell to the mound hoping to get the junior his seventh win and for the Patriots to win for the fifth time in the past seven games. But Pannell got very little run support and the Patriots' were unable to come through in the clutch as Mason fell to the Midshipmen, 6-2 in non-conference college baseball action.

The Patriots stranded 10 runners in the game and were just 4 of 22 with runners on. Five times Mason got the leadoff batter on in an inning and only twice did that runner score. With runners in scoring position, the Patriots were just 1 of 10 including 0 for 7 from the 2-4 hitters. Alec Thomas earned his first collegiate win for Navy in his first collegiate start, holding the Patriots to two runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts in five and one-third innings. The Patriots and Midshipmen split the season series as Mason won the first meeting last month, 12-10.

Mason put the game's first run on the board in the top of the second. Scott Krieger led off the frame with a walk, stole second with two outs and scored on Chris Romanow's single to center. Navy got the run back in the bottom of the frame when Thomas Hamilton and Mike Hoosier led off with singles and Hamilton scored on Steven Soares' one-out double. Navy took a 2-1 lead when Hoosier scored on Bill Maugeri's groundout to short.

In the third, Pannell again gave up a pair of leadoff singles, this time to Renaldo Hollins on a bunt single and Drew Lydon on a shallow blooper into right. Michael Garcia's sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position. Once again a groundout to short scored a run, this time with Hollins coming home on Hamilton's slow roller. The deficit stayed at 3-1 when Hoosier grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning.

The Midshipmen added a pair in the fifth when B.J. Bickel led off with a single to left, went to second on a Hollins grounder back to the mound and scored on a Lydon single to right. After Garcia grounded out, Lydon scored on a Hamilton single to right making it 5-1. Mason closed the gap in the sixth when Krieger led off with a double down the leftfield line and after a wild pitch sent him to third, he scored on a Justin Bour sacrifice fly. But the Patriots couldn't do anything to chip into the lead over the final three innings and Navy added an eighth-inning insurance run against reliever Jason Koziol to account for the final score.

The Patriots will return to action on this weekend when they host Chicago State in a three-game series. Friday's game is at 3 p.m., Saturday's at 2 p.m. and Sunday's at 1 p.m.