April 3, 2009

Box Score

Fairfax, Va. - The George Mason baseball team tied the school record for consecutive home wins, extending the nation's longest home winning streak, and in the process, beat a nationally-ranked team for the third straight season as Mason beat 30th-ranked UNC Wilmington, 4-2 on Friday in the first game of a three-game series. It was Mason's 18th straight home win. The Patriots (22-5, 5-2) will look to break the school record on Saturday when they face the Seahawks (17-8, 5-2) at 2 p.m. Mason and UNCW are tied for first in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Chris Henderson was 1 for 1 with two RBI, Justin Bour was 2 for 3 with one RBI while Ryan Uphouse had two hits and Brent Weiss scored two runs. Kevin Crum went seven innings allowing just one earned run on seven hits and two walks to pick up the win

The Patriots loaded the bases in the first inning on a Chris Henderson double and walks to Scott Krieger and Justin Bour. But Ryan Soares struck out and Shane Davis flew out to left-center to keep the game scoreless. In the second, Mason capitalized on its scoring chances as Dan Palumbo and Brent Weiss led off with singles, moved to second and third on a Ryan Uphouse sacrifice bunt and Palumbo scored on a Spencer Wiggins single off the pitcher's glove. Chris Henderson followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Weiss to make it 2-0.

Mason added a run in the fifth but just missed out on a big inning. Henderson walked but Krieger grounded into a double play. Bour followed with a solo homer to right, his ninth home run of the season. The Seahawks got the run back in the sixth when Grayson Evans led off the inning getting hit by a pitch, went to third on a Robbie Monday single and scored on a Cody Stanley hit just over Dan Palumbo's glove at third. Mason got out of the inning when Bobby Leeper grounded into a double play.

In the sixth, Mason again loaded the bases, this time as Weiss drew a two-out walk, Uphouse singled deep into the hole at short and Wiggins walked to bring Henderson to the plate. The Seahawks countered by pulling starter Daniel Cropper after 105 pitches to bring in Steven Davis, who entered the contest with a 0.75 ERA in 14 games and a .108 opponent's batting average. Henderson didn't get a hit off Davis, but he did draw a walk to make it 4-1.

In the ninth, Stanley doubled and scored on a Rhett Miller single to make it 4-2 but that was all the Seahawks could muster. Shawn Griffith pitched a perfect eighth and Jordan Flasher picked up his fourth save of the season by pitching the ninth. He extended his school record for career saves to 22.