May 21, 2008
Box Score
Wilmington, N.C. -
The George Mason baseball team faced a 7-0 deficit on Wednesday in the opening round of the double-elimination six-team Colonial Athletic Association Tournament but it didn't stop Mason from taking its sixth straight win over William & Mary and fourth in the past week as Mark Hill hit a two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings and the Patriots won the game in the 10th on Scott Krieger's double as Mason beat the Tribe, 8-7. Mason will next play James Madison on Thursday at 7 p.m.
After falling behind 7-0, the Patriots scored twice in the fifth and twice in the sixth before their bats went quiet. With two outs and no one on in the ninth, Justin Bour and Josh Steinberg hit back-to-back singles and Hill followed by depositing a 2-2 pitch from Pat Kantakevich over the centerfield wall. It was Hill's sixth homer of the year but just his second since March 1.
With one out in the tenth, Spencer Wiggins doubled over the leftfielder's head and Chris Henderson was intentionally walked with two outs to bring up Krieger, who finished the game a single shy of the cycle. Krieger was 3 for 6 with three RBI, Hill was 3 for 5 with three RBI while Bour, Henderson and Ryan Soares each had two hits. But perhaps the best performance of the day went to the Mason relievers, who allowed just two hits in five and two-third innings to keep the game within reach. William & Mary managed just two baserunners after the fifth.
The Tribe (35-20) started the game with a leadoff double but a pair of strikeouts and a groundout ended the threat. The Patriots (29-23) got back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first but Krieger, Bour and Steinberg struck out to return the favor.
Mason starter Mike Modica escaped trouble in the second with a runner on third and one out getting a shallow fly ball and a strikeout, and even bigger trouble in the third when he hit the first two batters of the inning before getting a fielder's choice and a double play to keep the game scoreless. Tribe starter Kevin Landry also had runner's on in the second and third as he walked Brent Weiss in the second and gave up a two-out triple to Krieger in the third. Neither runner advanced.
In the fifth, the Tribe got the leadoff runner on yet again and this time, it led to big trouble for Mason. James Williamson led off with a single to left. Lanny Stanfield followed by failing to get down a sacrifice bunt, but on an 0-2 count, Modica hit him to put runners on first and second with no outs. Paul Juliano's fielder's choice put runners on the corners with one out and William & Mary scored the game's first run on Tyler Stampone's single to center. With runner's on the corners and still only one out, Ben Guez gave the Tribe a cushion, homering over the left field fence for a 4-0 field. It was his third homer against Mason in four games.
With the lead, the Tribe batters seemed to relax. Mike Sheridan singled, Tim Park walked and Greg Maliniak singled to make it 5-0 and end Modica's outing. Kris Mengle came on in relief, and after he walked Robbie Nickle and struck out Williamson, Stanfield singled up the middle to make it 7-0.
Mason finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Henderson reached on a two-out double, his 19th this year, and Krieger followed with a homer, his 17th of the season. In the sixth, Hill led off with a single and Weiss walked to end the day for Landry. Ryan Uphouse greeted Sean Grieve with a single to left to load the bases and with one out, Soares hit a flare to right to make it 7-3. With the bases still loaded and one out, Henderson hit a slow roller up the middle that resulted in an RBI ground out and left Mason down three runs, 7-4.
Over the next three and one-third innings, Mason batters struggled, managing no hits and just one walk. That is until the dramatic ninth-inning rally, which came against William & Mary reliever Pat Kantakevich, who was unable to convert his 10th save of the year.
