March 28, 2009

Box Score

Williamsburg, Vs. - The George Mason baseball team once again turned to its bullpen on Saturday evening and once again the bullpen answered the call as the Patriots got five and two-thirds scoreless innings from their relievers and the offense scored four runs in the eighth as the Patriots swept a doubleheader from William & Mary, winning the second game, 11-7. Mason had won the first game 21-3 earlier in the day.

Ben Reade pitched two and two-third innings allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out two and Shawn Griffith pitched the final three innings, allowing jut three hits and no walks while striking out three. He earned his second win of the season without a loss.

Mason (19-4, 4-1), which continued the best start in school history, used two hits and four errors in the eighth inning to break open a 7-7 game. William & Mary (7-15, 1-4) made two errors on a play twice in the inning. Brent Weiss led off with a walk and Ryan Uphouse followed with a sacrifice bunt. Uphouse reached on a throwing error by the pitcher and he went to second and Weiss scored on a throwing error by the second baseman, James Williamson. After a pop out and a fly out, Scott Krieger walked to bring Justin Bour to the plate. The junior singled to right but Rob Nickle misplayed the ball allowing Uphouse to score while Krieger went to third and Bour to second. A throwing error by the second baseman on the play allowed both Krieger and Bour to score for the 11-7 lead.

Krieger was 2 for 4 with three RBI and his eighth home run of the season. Bour was 3 for 5 with two RBI and his seventh homer. Ryan Soares also had three hits while Uphouse had two hits.

The Patriots got on the board before recording an out. Spencer Wiggins and Chris Henderson reached on errors to make it 1-0 and Henderson scored on a Krieger double to make it 2-0. Krieger scored on a Bour single for a three-run lead. The Tribe got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Williamson led off with a single, went to second on a Derrick Osteen sacrifice bunt, went to third on a Jeff Jones single and scored on a wild pitch.

A Justin Bour homer in the third put Mason ahead, 4-1, but in the bottom of the inning, the Tribe broke through for five runs. Tyler Truxell led off the frame with a double and scored on a Williamson single. Williamson went to second on another Osteen sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out Tyler Stampone single to make it 4-2. Rob Nickle followed with an RBI double and Brett Connor capped the inning with a homer to left-center to make it 6-4.

Mason retook the lead in the fourth as Henderson brought home Wiggins, who had reached on a fielder's choice and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, and Krieger homered to make it 7-6. But the Tribe got the run back in the bottom of the frame when Osteen and Jones hit singles to put runners on the corner and Osteen came home on a Stampone sacrifice fly.