March 7, 2009

Box Score

The George Mason baseball team swept a doubleheader from Army on Saturday afternoon, beating the Black Knights 8-2 in the home opener and then downing Army 7-1 in the seven-inning finale. Mason (6-3) got strong starts from Mike Modica and Kevin Crum, Scott Krieger hit his fourth homer of the year and Chris Henderson continued his streak of hitting safely in every game this season.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Modica allowed just four hits and four walks in seven innings with eight strikeouts and two earned runs. Shawn Griffith pitched two scoreless innings in relief. The Patriots led 3-0 after one and 7-0 after two. Mason got its first-inning runs in an unusual fashion. Henderson drew a one-out walk, Krieger singled and Josh Steinberg reached on a catcher's interference. With the bases loaded, Ryan Soares doubled to make it 3-0.

In the second, Ryan Uphouse singled, Spencer Wiggins was hit by a pitch and Henderson singled to load the bases and Krieger followed with a grand slam and a 7-0 lead. Army's first run came in the third behind a one out single, a ground out and a single to center to make it 7-1. In the sixth a pair of walks put Black Knights on first and second and a two-out single pulled Army (2-4) to within five. But Mason countered in the bottom of the inning as Wiggins, Henderson and Krieger all walked and Steinberg's sacrifice fly made it 8-2.

In the second game, Crum allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out six and allowing one run in six innings. Jordan Flasher pitched a scoreless seventh. Dan Palumbo, Uphouse and Henderson all had multiple hits. Mason scored three runs each in the fifth and sixth to break open a tied game.

Mason went up 1-0 in the second as Palumbo singled, went to third on a Brent Weiss single and scored on a double steal. Army tied the score in the fifth in identical fashion with two singles and a double steal. The Patriots' fifth-inning runs came when Palumbo singled and scored on a Uphouse double. Spencer Wiggins walked and Uphouse scored on a Henderson single. Later in the inning Justin Bour plated Wiggins for a 4-1 lead. In the sixth, Dan Shafferman walked to lead off, Palumbo sacrificed the runner to second and it was 5-1 on Uphouse's single. Wiggins doubled to make it 6-1 and the final runs scored on Henderson's single to right.

The Patriots and Black Knights conclude their three-games series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.