April 10, 2010

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Fairfax, Va. - The George Mason baseball team twice held three-run leads on Old Dominion on Saturday but the Monarchs rallied for seven runs in the final four innings, including four runs in the seventh to push past the Patriots and hold on for a 10-9 win in Colonial Athletic Association action. The Monarchs are now 15-20 on the year, 4-4 in CAA play while Mason is 17-11, 3-5.

Old Dominion hit five home runs including two by Josh Wright, who was 3 for 5 with three RBI. Jake McAloose was 3 for 5 with three RBI as well. Mark Hill was 4 for 5 with three RBI for the Patriots while Nick Allen and Jeremy Haas each had two hits. Brig Tison extended his hitting streak to 17 games, tied for sixth-longest in school history with a hit in his second at-bat. Brandon Smith (3-3) pitched six strong innings in relief to earn the win for ODU while Austin Wright picked up his first save.

After trailing for the entire game on Friday, Mason took its first lead of the series on Saturday with a first-inning run. Jeremy Haas was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a two-out double by Mark Hill. In the third, Mason added runs as Haas led off with a single up the middle and scored on a Tison triple. Ryan Soares, who entered the week leading the nation in sacrifice flies, added to his total scoring Tison to make it 3-0.

Ryan Brecko, who had retired the first seven batters and allowed just one of the first 11 batters to reach got into trouble in the fourth. With one out, Jake McAloose homered to make it 3-1. Chris Baker followed with a single up the middle and after Chris Buss struck out, Josh Wright homered to left to make it 3-3. Mason responded in the bottom of the inning as pinch hitter Chris Cook singled and scored on Brett Hendricks' triple to make it 4-3. Chris Cook singled to make it 5-3 and after a Haas single and a Tison sacrifice bunt, Cook scored on a Soares ground out to make it a three-run lead.

Old Dominion trimmed the lead in the sixth behind a Chris Baker leadoff homer to make it 6-4. In the seventh, against reliever Jack Zeltner, Kenny Stoneback and Donnie Corner drew back-to-back walks to leadoff the inning. That prompted a pitching change and Darren McLean came in and he gave up a double to McAloose to make it 6-6. After McAloose scored on a Cook error that allowed Baker to reach, Buss made it 8-6 with an RBI double to left-center.

The Patriots tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh as Hill singled with one out but Shane Davis flew out to deep center and Hill was thrown out trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt. Old Dominion took advantage by adding an insurance run in the ninth on a Corsner homer off T.J. O'Grady. In the eighth, Mason rallied as Dan Palumbo was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Allen followed with a single and Brett Hendricks sacrificed the runners into scoring position. Palumbo scored on a Cook sacrifice fly to make it 9-7. But the Monarchs got the run back in the ninth when Wright homered off A.J. Johnson to make it 10-7.

Things got dramatic in the ninth when Soares hit a one-out double and Hill followed with a homer to left to make it a one-run game. But Wright came on and he got a ground out and after a hit batter, a fly out to end the threat. The Patriots and Monarchs will conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m.