April 23, 2008
Box Score
The George Mason baseball team scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings and scored the game-winning run in the tenth as the Patriots beat Radford, 7-6 at Spuhler Field.
In the tenth, Mark Hill was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brent Weiss, advanced to third on Spencer Wiggins' infield hit and scored on Ryan Soares single down the leftfield line.
Chris Henderson and Ryan Uphouse each had two hits and two RBI for Mason (20-20) and Justin Bour extended his streak of reaching base safely in every game this season. He had a game-tying RBI single in the ninth. Wiggins had three hits in the game for Mason
The Patriots' big inning began when Shane Davis led off with an infield single and after a fly out and a strikeout, he scored on an Uphouse homer to left field. Wiggins and Ryan Soares followed with singles and Henderson's double to right-center made it 4-0.
Radford took the lead in the fourth when Alex Gregory drew a one-out walk, Reggie Keen followed with a single and Nick Minter's two-out single made it 4-1. After Nachion Moore was hit by a pitch, Will Naylor doubled to clear the bases and make it 4-4. Ben Toth followed with a single to center to make it 5-4.
Radford added an important run in the ninth. Minter was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Jonathan Spears bloop single to center. In the bottom of the inning, Weiss singled, went to second on a ground out, advanced to third on Wiggins' single and scored on Soares' fielder's choice. After Chris Henderson walked, Justin Bour singled through the right side to tie the game. Scott Krieger was intentionally walked to load the bases before Aaron Tenney flew out to center.
Mark Blepper stymied the Patriots, allowing just four hits in six and one-third innings while striking out four and walking none. Aside from the big inning, Kris Mengle pitched well for Mason. He allowed four hits in Radford's big inning but just two in the other five innings he worked. In total, he gave up six hits and one walk in six innings. Dan Gerjets pitched two scoreless innings in relief while Ryan Brecko (6-1) pitched the ninth and tenth for Mason.
Mason will return to action this weekend with a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series at Delaware. Friday's game time is 3 p.m., Saturday's is 1 p.m. and Sunday's is 1 p.m.
