April 23, 2009
The George Mason baseball team will host Hofstra this weekend in a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series that pits the first-place Patriots against the last-place Pride. Mason is 31-8 on the year and 11-4 in the CAA while Hofstra is 6-24, 2-13.
This season, the Patriots have been incredibly well balanced with a .322 team batting average, a 3.86 staff ERA and a .974 fielding percentage. The batting average and fielding percentage would be the highest in school history if they held up to the end of the season and the ERA would be the second-best in school history behind just the 3.79 ERA in 1992.
Mason has seven regulars batting .299 or better starting with catcher Chris Henderson who is hitting .409 with 15 doubles, 10 homers, 38 RBI, 47 runs scored and a .707 slugging percentage. Scott Krieger, the reigning CAA Player of the Week and the nation's leader in active career homers, RBI and total bases is batting .387 with 15 homers, 58 RBI, 45 runs and an .800 slugging percentage. Over the past 11 games, Krieger is hitting .533 with six homers, 27 RBI and a 1.156 slugging percentage. The Patriots have also gotten 13 homers and 43 RBI from Justin Bour and seven homers and a .329 average from Ryan Soares.
The pitching staff has been led by Mike Modica and Kevin Crum, who will both make starts this weekend. Modica is 7-1 with a 4.31 ERA and he has struck out 48 batters in 54 and one-third innings. Opponents are hitting just .241 against him. Crum is 5-3 with a 3.70 ERA and he has allowed just 13 walks in 56 innings while limiting the opposition to a .248 average.
Shawn Griffith, Jordan Flasher, Ryan Brecko and Ben Reade have been the driving forces in the bullpen. Griffith is 3-0 with two saves and a 1.82 ERA in 22 appearances. Flasher is 0-1 with five saves and a 3.77 ERA having struck out 15 in 14 and one-third innings spanning 14 appearances. Brecko is 2-1 with six saves in 17 appearances. Reade is 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA in 16 appearances with 24 strikeouts and seven walks in 24 and one-third innings.
The Pride are batting .280 as a team with a 10.43 ERA and a .951 fielding percentage. Mark Stuckless is hitting .397 with three homers and 30 runs scored. John Kenny is batting .345, Chris Mentrasti is batting .308 and Tom Legregni is batting .287. They have 8, 10, 9 and 13 steals, respectively, Mark Prokopowicz is batting .340 with 21 RBI. Hofstra's three weekend starters have been Rob Kumbatovic, Nick Panzarella and Brody Fontaine. Kumbatovic is 3-5 with a 6.88 ERA, Panzarella is 0-4 with a 7.57 ERA and Fontaine is 0-7 with an 11.65 ERA. Jeff Guthridge is the only other pitcher with an ERA less than 10.00. He is 2-1 with two saves and a 4.50 ERA in 14 appearances.
