April 17, 2009

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. - Scott Krieger homered to drive in two runs and erase an early deficit, but the George Mason baseball team was unable to hold off VCU as the Rams defeated the 25th-ranked Patriots, 4-3, in the two teams' Colonial Athletic Association series opener Friday night at The Diamond.

Mason fell to 28-7 and 9-4 in CAA play while the Rams improved to 18-12 and 6-4 in conference action.

VCU jumped out to a two-run lead in the first inning but Krieger sent a two-run blast over the left field wall in the third inning to tie the score at two, his 14th home run of the year. VCU countered in the bottom half as an errant throw allowed Justin Wright to score for the Rams, giving VCU a 3-2 lead.

A leadoff double by Mark Hill in the top of the fourth resulted in an RBI groundout by Brent Weiss and another tie score at 3-3.

Again, the Rams responded as Carlos Rodriguez sent a double into the left-centerfield gap and came home to score two batters later on a sacrifice fly from Richard Gonzalez to give VCU a 4-3 advantage in the bottom of the fourth.

That score held up as Rams starter Ian Thomas (3-2) allowed just five more hits as he earned the win in an eight and one-third inning outing. Mason starter Kevin Crum (5-3) took the loss in six innings of work. Aaron Morgan retired the final two Patriot batters in the ninth to earn his third save of the year.

Krieger and Hill each had three-hit days to lead the Mason offense, while Wright and Andrew Dimino were both 2-for-4 to lead VCU.

The two teams will square off in game two of the series on Saturday afternoon at The Diamond. Game time is set for 2 p.m.