May 2, 2008

Box Score

Wilmington, N.C. - Someone showing up at Brooks Field in Wilmington, N.C., armed simply with the knowledge that one team was nationally ranked, 23 games over .500 and had a 21-game winning streak earlier this year while the other was just three games better-than .500 and had not won more than four straight all season would have been easily confused about which team was which. On Friday night in the opener of a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series, it was Mason that played solid defense, put the bat on the ball and made its pitches as the Patriots took a 13-3 win over the 24th-ranked UNC Wilmington Seahawks. It's the second straight season Mason has beaten a nationally-ranked team on the road.

The Patriots got a stellar performance from Dan Jaycox who allowed three runs on nine hits while striking out seven and walking four in nine innings. Meanwhile, seven UNCW pitchers combined to allow 13 hits, six walks and 11 earned runs. Mason did not commit an error while UNCW made two, each of which led to Mason runs. Chris Henderson had a career-high five RBI, Ryan Soares had his first career multi-homer game, Ryan Uphouse was 3 for 5, Brent Weiss was 2 for 4 and Mark Hill had two RBI. The Seahawks' 2-5 hitters, Daniel Hargrave, Jason Appel, Mark Carver and Nate Hall came into the game hitting .347, .410, .367 and .392, respectively. They combined to go 1 for 14.

Mason (25-21, 15-8) got on the board in the second behind four singles. With one out, Josh Steinberg singled to third base and with two outs, Weiss singled down the right field line to put runners on the corner. Uphouse followed with a single to right field to plate the first run and Spencer Wiggins singled up the middle for a 2-0 lead. Soares walked to load the bases but Henderson flew out to center to end the inning.

Mason added to the lead in the third when Justin Bour led off with a walk, Scott Krieger followed with a double and with one out, Hill doubled to left-center to drive home the runners for a 4-0 lead. The Seahawks (33-11-1, 18-3-1) answered in the bottom of the third as Jes Snyder led off with a triple off the wall in center and scored on a Mike Rooney ground out. Alex Hill then tripled to right center but a pair of ground outs prevented the run from scoring and kept it a 4-1 game.

Mason got the run back in the fourth when Soares hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot with one out directly over the 360-foot mark in left-center. Henderson followed with a single and Bour walked and that ended the day for UNCW starter Seth Frankoff. The Patriots couldn't get any more runs home as Krieger popped up and Steinberg grounded out. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, UNCW strung together three singles to make it 5-2 but Jaycox struck out Rooney to end the inning.

In the fifth, the Patriots got a one-out single from Weiss, Uphouse followed with a double down the leftfield line, Wiggins walked and Henderson hit the first grand slam of his career to put Mason ahead 9-2. Two innings later, Mason again loaded the bases, this time as Weiss walked, Uphouse singled and Wiggins walked. This time Henderson drove in a run on a fielder's choice with Wiggins safe at second on a throwing error by the second baseman. Bour also drove in a run on a fielder's choice and Wiggins scored from second on the play on a throwing error by Rooney at shortstop for a 12-2 lead.

The Seahawks got a solo homer from Alex Hill to lead off the eighth but they didn't score again. Soares second homer came in the ninth to make it 13-3. Mason now has a season-high five-game winning streak. The loss was the first one at home in CAA play this season for UNCW and the Seahawks are now 20-4 at home. The Patriots and Seahawks will continue their three-game series on Saturday at 4 p.m.