May 2, 2009
Box Score
FAIRFAX, Va. - The 28th-ranked George Mason baseball team jumped out to an early lead and held off Northeastern, 8-3, to earn a series sweep and lock up the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title in game two of a doubleheader Saturday at Spuhler Field.
After defeating the Huskies (22-20, 8-10 CAA) by a 12-5 score in game one of the doubleheader, the Patriots (38-9, 17-4) finished off the sweep on Senior Day by scoring three runs in the first two innings and never looking back. A two-run blast by junior Justin Bour in the bottom of the first inning opened the scoring, and classmate Shane Davis added another run in the second inning when he led off with a solo shot off of the batter's eye in center field.
Brendan Stokes led off the third with a solo home run of his own, but Mason answered back in the bottom half of the inning as senior Scott Krieger dropped an RBI triple into right-center field. In the very next at-bat, Bour brought Krieger home with another round-tripper, a rainmaker to right field which was his third of the day after homering in the opening game of the twinbill.
An RBI single by Jeff Dunlap in the fourth brought the score within 6-2, but it was the next batter who inflicted the most damage on the Patriots. Stokes lined an RBI base hit off the leg of Patriots starter Kris Mengle, who remained in the game and finished the inning but did not return for the fifth inning. Mengle was highly effective in his four-inning start, allowing just six hits while fanning seven Huskies.
That task fell to senior Jason Koziol, who earned the victory as he tossed three innings in relief, allowing one run on four hits. The run came in the top of the seventh inning as Ryan Maguire lifted another ball over the fence for a leadoff home run, narrowing the margin to 6-3. However, the Patriots again answered right back, as RBI singles by Krieger and Bour in the bottom half of the seventh pushed the score to 8-3 in the Patriots' favor.
Ryan Brecko pitched two perfect innings of relief to guide the Patriots to their 25th home victory of the year, adding onto the school record which was set earlier in the day. For the Huskies, starter Jeff Thomson (5-4) earned the loss after allowing the first six runs in 2.1 innings of work, while Dunlap, Stokes and Frank Pesanello each went 2-for-4.
Prior to the doubleheader, which completed the series after the threat of inclement weather on Sunday afternoon pushed the series finale up a day, the Patriots honored the eight seniors on their roster who played in the final home conference game of their careers. Mason will close out the 2009 home slate on Tuesday afternoon with a 3 p.m. tilt against Rollins at Spuhler Field.
