April 25, 2009
Box Score
The 27th-ranked George Mason baseball team got a big day from Chris Henderson, Scott Krieger broke a school record and Mike Modica hit a personal milestone as the Patriots continued their dominance in Colonial Athletic Association action as the Patriots beat Hofstra, 10-3 on Saturday at Spuhler Field.
Krieger broke the school record for career hits, Henderson was 4 for 5 with a pair of doubles and Modica struck out the 200th batter of his career as Mason improved to 33-8, 13-4 in the CAA. Mark Stuckless had two hits, two runs and two RBI for Hofstra. Modica allowed just four hits in pitching the first complete game of the season for the Patriots. He improved to a CAA-best 8-1 on the year. He struck out eight and walked two.
Hofstra jumped on the board in the first with an unearned run and a couple of lucky hits. Mark Stuckless led off with a single up the middle as the ball took a funny hop over the glove of Ryan Soares. Tom Legregni followed with a sacrifice bunt which actually resulted in a base hit. An error on John Kenny's grounder allowed Stuckless to score but Modica got a shallow fly ball and two strike outs to end the inning.
Mason tied the score in the bottom of the first on Scott Krieger's 16th homer of the season, a hit which made him Mason's all-time leader in career hits. In the second, the Patriots scored four times with help from Hofstra. Soares and Josh Steinberg walked to lead off the inning and Dan Palumbo's sacrifice bunt resulted in a base hit to load the bases. Brent Weiss singled up the middle to make it 2-1 and Ryan Uphouse and Spencer Wiggins each hit sacrifice flies for a three-run lead. Chris Henderson singled up the middle to bring home Weiss for a 5-1 lead.
In the third, Justin Bour singled and Soares doubled to lead off the inning and Steinberg's sacrifice fly to left made it 6-1. In the fourth, Mason put another run on the board when Krieger scored from second on a Soares single just inside the leftfield line. Hofstra trimmed the lead in the fifth when Gianni Masci reached on a strikeout when he swung at a pitch in the dirt and Stuckless followed with a homer to right. In the bottom of the inning, Mason put together a two-out no-one on rally to get a run back as Uphouse singled, Wiggins walked and Henderson doubled for an 8-3 lead.
In the seventh, Henderson doubled with two outs, Krieger walked and Bour doubled to left-center to make it 10-3.
Mason and Hofstra will conclude the three-game series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. It will be Alumni Day with an alumni picnic at Noon on the track prior to the game.
