April 16, 2010

Box Score

Boston, Mass. - The George Mason baseball team made its first-ever trip to Northeastern on Friday afternoon and the Patriots found a warm welcome despite the weather as Northeastern committed three errors and allowed four unearned runs as the Patriots survived a season-low seven hits to beat the Huskies, 9-5 in Colonial Athletic Association action. Mason improved to 21-11 on the year, 5-5 in the CAA while Northeastern fell to 7-15, 0-7.

Kevin Crum improved to 5-1 on the year after pitching five and one-third innings while Anthony Montefusco picked up his fourth save, pitching three and two-third scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks with five strikeouts. Dan Schafferman was 2 for 4 with two runs scored while Shane Davis had three RBI and Dan Palumbo hit his second career homer. Frank Compagnone was 2 for 5 for Northeastern with three RBI while Alan Pastyrnak had two RBI.

The Patriots played from behind for the fourth straight game as they extended their winning streak to four-straight. In the top of the first, Mason put a runner on third with no outs but couldn't take an early lead. Northeastern made them pay as Matt Miller reached on an error by third baseman Mark Hill, went to second on a David Gustafson single, took third on a ground out and scored on a Compagnone infield single.

The Patriots took their first lead of the contest in the third when, with Brig Tison on first and two outs, Ryan Soares singled and Hill walked to load the bases. Davis came through with his lone hit of the game, a double to left-center to clear the bases and put the Patriots ahead 3-1. The Huskies got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Gustafson singled, went to second on an error, stole third and scored on Compagnone's grounder. Northeastern tied the game in the fifth when Tony DiCesare hit a two-out double and scored on a Compagnone single through the right side.

In the sixth, Mason took the lead for good. First Palumbo hit a one-out solo homer to make it 4-3. Then, Chris Cook reached on a strikeout when catcher Jon Leroux let the ball get away from him. Pastyrnak mishandled Brett Hendricks' grounder to put two runners on and Cook scored to make it 5-3 on Schafferman's single to right. A wild pitch allowed Hendricks to score and Jeremy Haas' sacrifice fly to plate Schafferman made it 7-3.

In the bottom of the inning, Crum hit Leroux then gave up a double to Logan Gillis to put runners on second and third. With one out, Pastyrnak singled up the middle to make it 7-5 and end Crum's day. Montefusco came in and retired the next five batters heading into the eighth, and the Patriots capitalized, adding a pair of insurance runs to make it 9-5. Hendricks, Schafferman and Tison singled to load the bases with two outs and Ryan Soares' grounder was misplayed by Gillis at third to make it 8-5. The final run scored when Hill walked with the bases loaded.

Northeastern managed a one-out single in the eighth and a leadoff single in the ninth but both runners never even got to second as Montefusco proved dominate once again. The freshman is 3-1 with four saves and a 1.01 ERA. He has an opposing batting average of .189 and he has allowed just 17 hits and two walks in 26.2 innings while striking out 23. Since March 1, he has a 0.37 ERA in 24.1 innings. The Patriots and Huskies continue their series tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for Noon.