April 24, 2008

The George Mason baseball team enters the final third of its Colonial Athletic Association schedule this weekend as the Patriots, 12-7 and in fourth place in the CAA, head to Delaware for a three-game series. The Blue Hens are 14-24, 6-12 in the CAA, which puts them in ninth place. Mason has nine CAA games remaining and the Patriots will look to solidify their spot in next month's CAA Tournament. The top six teams earn bids to the postseason tourney. The Blue Hens have 12 games remaining and need to make a move soon with three teams ahead of them in the standings.

Delaware enters the weekend 3-5 in its past eight contests. Over that span, Delaware has allowed more than nine runs per game. The Blue Hens are eighth in the CAA in batting, ninth in pitching and last in fielding. At the plate, they have a .292 team batting average with seven regulars batting .288 or better. Adam Tsakonas is batting .349 with 12 homers and 33 RBI, leading the Blue Hens in all three of those categories.

The Delaware pitching staff has a 6.59 ERA and Mason will see Mike McGuire on Friday (4-4, 8.45 ERA) and Brad Miller on Saturday (2-2, 6.86 ERA). David Slovak has been the closer out of the pen with three saves and a 2.05 ERA in 20 appearances.

Mason is 20-20 overall on the year, the third time this year Mason has had a .500 record. The previous two times, the Patriots were unable to get above the .500 mark. The Patriots are 8-3 in their past 11 games with a .336 batting average and a 3.55 ERA in those games. Overall, they are sixth in the CAA in hitting and third in pitching and fielding.

Mason is hitting .306 as a team with Justin Bour batting .435 with 12 homers and 49 RBI. He has reached base safely in every game this year. Chris Henderson is batting .360 while Scott Krieger is hitting .340 with 13 homers and 36 RBI. Mason will start Dan Jaycox (1-3, 4.66 ERA) on Friday, Mike Modica (2-4, 7.21 ERA) on Saturday and Dan Gerjets (4-1, 4.47 ERA) on Sunday. Ryan Brecko has been strong out of the bullpen after starting early in the season. He is 6-1 in 13 games with a 3.80 ERA, fifth in the CAA, and a .218 opponent's batting average, third in the CAA.

Friday's game time is set for 3 p.m., Saturday's for 1 p.m. and Sunday's for 1 p.m.