May 22, 2009

Box Score

Wilmington, N.C. - The 29th-ranked George Mason baseball team suffered its first loss in the 2009 CAA Tournament on Friday afternoon as the top-seeded Patriots dropped a 9-3 decision to second-seeded Georgia State, putting Mason in a Friday night elimination game with UNC Wilmington (30-22). The Patriots (42-11) will need a victory against the Seahawks to advance to the championship game on Saturday against Georgia State (38-20).

Scott Krieger hit a home run in the first inning and Georgia State starter Ryan Moore settled in comfortably after that. The junior (7-1) allowed single hits in the second, third and fourth and then retired 10 straight until a leadoff hit in the eighth. He had his second complete game of the year, holding Mason to seven hits while walking one and striking out six. He was helped by Georgia State scoring six of its runs with two outs.

For the first time in this year's tournament, the Patriots were able to score first. After Kris Mengle walked and stranded a pair of runners in the top of the first, Chris Henderson singled with one out in the bottom of the first to snap a 0 for 15 slump and Krieger followed with his 20th home run of the year, the 300th hit of his career. The 2-0 lead lasted until the third when Derek Simmons singled to lead off the inning, the first hit surrendered by Mengle, and Bradley Logan followed with a one-out homer to right-center to tie the score at 2-2.

In the fourth, Brandon Williams led off the inning with a walk, went to second on a ground out and scored on a two-out single by Nick Hogan. It was the fourth straight inning Mengle allowed the leadoff runner to reach, twice via walk, once on a single, one on a hit batter. In the sixth, when it seemed as if Mengle was cruising along having retired six straight, he gave up a two-out infield single to Carl Moniz and Michael McCree followed with his second home run of the year, a blast to straightaway center to make it 5-2. They made it 6-2 in the seventh when Simmons singled to lead off the inning and with two outs he stole second and scored on a Matt Van Horn singled up the middle to bring him home.

Moore, meanwhile cruised along. After a Mark Hill single in the fourth, he retired 10 straight batters with supreme efficiency. After going ahead by four runs in the top of the seventh, he retired the Patriots in the bottom of the inning on just five pitches. In the eighth, Moniz hit his 10th home run of the season to make it a 7-2 contest.

In the eighth, Mason missed a shot at a huge inning, scoring just once to make it 7-3. Ryan Uphouse singled to lead off the inning and Spencer Wiggins followed with a walk. Henderson turned on the first pitch he saw and he hit it off the wall in right field. He was going hard all the way but the runners had to hold up in case the ball was caught. It resulted in Henderson being thrown out for the inning's first out and instead of the bases loaded and no outs, it was one out with runners on second and third. The Patriots managed just one run out of the inning as Krieger plated Uphouse on a sacrifice fly, Justin Bour grounded out to end the inning. It didn't matter as Georgia State added a two-run homer in the ninth as Logan singled and Marc Mimeault hit a two-out homer to make it 9-3.