April 24, 2007

Box Score

Lynchburg, Va. - The George Mason baseball team had a three-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday when the Patriots traveled to Liberty and came away with a 13-5 loss. The Flames scored eight runs in the second and that proved to be the difference in the game.

Things started well for Mason as the first two hitters got on base. But a double play and a strikeout ended the first-inning threat. Mason also got a baserunner on in the second, but couldn't come away with a run.

In the bottom of the second, things fell apart quickly. With a runner on second and one out, Liberty had six straight hits to go up 5-0. A fielder's choice and a single made it 6-0 and ended starter Mike Modica's day. Ryan Brecko came on in relief and after a two-run double, he got a grounder to end the inning.

Mason got an unearned run in the third as Spencer Wiggins had a two-out bunt single, went to second on a throwing error and scored on a Chris Fournier single. Liberty pushed it back to an eight-run lead in the third with a leadoff double, a groundout and a sacrifice fly.

The Patriots (21-20) threatened a big inning in the fourth putting the first two runners on, but another double play killed the rally. In the fifth, though, Mason finally broke through for a pair of runs. Chris Henderson led off with a single, went to second on a Fournier base hit and scored on a Scott Krieger single. Fournier came home on a Justin Bour single.

Liberty (27-16) ended any hopes of a Mason comeback in the bottom of the fifth, though. A leadoff double was followed by a walk, a single and a three-run homer from P.K. Keller to make it 13-3.

The final runs scored in the seventh as Justin Bour led off with a single and Jason Bour followed with a home run, his 10th of the season. He became the fourth Patriot this year to reach double digits in homers. Henderson, Wiggins, Fournier, Krieger, Justin Bour, Jason Bour and Chris Romanow all had two hits.

The Patriots return to action on Friday when they open a three-game series at Towson. Game time on Friday is set for 3 p.m.