April 9, 2009

The George Mason baseball team will look to remain in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association this weekend while also keeping their 21-game home winning streak alive as the Patriots host Towson at Spuhler Field in a three-game series. The first game is Friday at 3 p.m. with games on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.

Mason is currently 26-5 on the year and 7-2 in the CAA. The Patriots are ranked 25th in the Collegiate Baseball poll and 30th in the NCBWA poll. It is the first time the Patriots have ever been ranked. The 21 straight home wins is the nation's longest active streak. Towson is 15-14 on the year, 3-3 in the CAA.

This season, the Patriots have been led by their pitching staff, which has a 3.76 ERA. Mason is second in the conference in ERA and they lead the CAA in saves, with 12. Mason is also first in the CAA in fielding percentage with a .970 mark. The Patriots are hitting.317 on the season with 42 homers and 238 runs scored.

Towson is fifth in the CAA with a .322 batting average and the Tigers have 49 homers and 237 runs scored. But the Tigers are 10th in the CAA in pitching with a 7.49 ERA and they are fielding just .960, eighth in the CAA.

Gary Helmick leads the Tigers with a .442 batting average, nine home runs, 46 runs and a .833 slugging percentage, all team highs. Steve Yrasinsky is hitting .387 and Matt Collins is batting .370 with 32 RBI. Three other regulars are hitting better than .315. No Tiger has an ERA better than 3.30 and only two have an ERA better than 5.25. Those are relievers Wes Shifflett (3.42 ERA in nine appearances) and Josh Squatrito (4.57 ERA in 12 appearances).

The Patriots have been led by Chris Henderson, who is batting .430 with seven homers, 30 RBI and 35 runs scored and the junior catcher has not made an error all season. Scott Krieger is the nation's active leader in career home runs (61), RBI (202) and total bases (510). This year he is hitting .353 with 12 homers and 44 RBI. Justin Bor is batting .339 with 12 homers and 35 RBI. Three other regulars are batting better than .300.

Mason has six pitchers who have made five or more appearances with an ERA of less than 3.30. Shawn Griffith has made 17 appearances with a 3-0 mark and one save with a 2.00 ERA. Jordan Flasher, Mason's leader in career saves, has five saves and a 1.59 ERA. Starting on Friday for Mason is Kevin Crum, who is 4-2 with a 3.98 ERA and he has allowed just nine walks and 42 hits in 43 innings.

Much of Mason's success this season at home has been due to a 2.56 ERA at Spuhler Field. Teams are hitting just .243 when they come to Fairfax. Only twice this year has a team scored more than five runs in a game with Army scoring six on March 8 and UNC Wilmington scoring eight on April 5. Mason's bullpen, which has been superb wherever it has played this year, is 8-0 with eight saves and a 1.84 ERA at Spuhler Field.

Towson took 2 of 3 from Mason last year but Mason leads the all-time series, 37-26.