March 29, 2008
Box Score
The George Mason baseball team got early offense from every part of its lineup and the Patriots scored eight runs in the first three innings against Old Dominion on Saturday. That, coupled with Ryan Brecko's superb relief pitching allowed Mason to take a 10-5 win over the Monarchs in Colonial Athletic Association action at Spuhler Field.
Brecko improve to 3-0 on the season allowing just three hits and one walk with no runs in six and two-thirds innings of work. Brent Weiss was 3 for 4 with three RBI and two runs and Chris Henderson and Justin Bour were each 2 for 5 with two RBI.
The Monarchs (14-12, 6-5) were able to score before the game was five minutes old. Jimmy Myles led off with a five-pitch walk, stole second and scored on a one-out hit by Bryan Cipolla. Mason (12-13, 7-3) responded in the bottom of the first, taking its first lead of the series. Spencer Wiggins and Chris Henderson led off with singles and Scott Krieger walked to load the bases. As he has all season, Justin Bour came through with a single through the right side to make it 2-1. Ryan Soares followed with an RBI single and Bour scored on Shane Davis' groundout to make it 4-1.
In the second, Jake McAloose and Chris Buss drew one-out walks but Mason appeared to be out of the inning when Max Most hit a double-play ball to Mark Hill at third. But the officials called catcher's interference to load the bases. Miles followed with a single up the middle to score two and Most scored on a throwing error on the play to make it 4-4. Miles went to third on a wild pitch and after Chris Keenan walked, Cipolla hit what looked to be a perfect sacrifice fly to give ODU the lead, but Miles was ruled to have left third early and Mason finally got its double play.
Mason retook the lead in the second as Ryan Uphouse led off with a walk and Brent Weiss tripled down the leftfield line to make it 5-4. Weiss scored on Wiggins' ground out for a 6-4 lead. The Monarchs didn't let it stand, though, as Anthony Shawler led off the third with a double down the right field line, David Burns followed with a single to right and McAloose brought home Shawler with a single to center. That ended the day for Mason starter Mike Modica and Ryan Brecko came on in relief. He got a pair of fly balls to extinguish the rally and preserve the lead.
In the bottom of the third, the offense continued to dominate. Bour led off with a single (raising his average to .447), Davis had a one-out hit and Uphouse was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases. Weiss followed with a two-run single to make it 8-5. Wiggins was hit by a pitch to once again load the bases but Henderson flew out to center strand the runners.
After the third inning, the game suddenly became a pitcher's duel. From the fourth through the seventh the Patriots did not have a hit and Brecko turned in 1-2-3 innings in the sixth, seventh and eighth to keep the Monarchs from mounting a rally. Mason added insurance runs in the eighth against reliever Cory Toth. Weiss, Wiggins and Henderson all singled to lead off the inning to make it 10-5.
The Patriots and Monarchs conclude the three-game series on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
