April 18, 2010

Box Score

Boston, Mass. - The George Mason baseball team completed a series sweep of Northeastern on Sunday and in the process ran their winning streak to six straight as the Patriots topped the Huskies 11-1 in the second game of a doubleheader. Mason is now 23-11 on the year, 7-5 in the Colonial Athletic Association while Northeastern fell to 7-17, 0-9.

Chris O'Grady was brilliant in his seven innings of work. The redshirt freshman lefthander allowed just one hit, a triple, and three walks while striking out four. He surrendered one run in the game in improving to 2-0. Brig Tison had three hits while Mark Hill, Dan Palumbo, Dan Schafferman, Ryan Soares and Josh Steinberg each had two RBI.

Mason, which didn't score until the 10th inning in the first game of the doubleheader, got a pair of runs in the second as Anthony Montefusco singled and Palumbo tripled to make it 1-0. Palumbo scored on a Schafferman ground out. The Huskies trimmed the lead to one run in the fourth when Tony DiCesare tripled and scored on a Frank Compagnone ground out to make it 2-1.

Mason, which was held to seven hits in the first game of the series and five in the first game of the doubleheader, struck for four runs on four hits in the sixth. Palumbo singled, went to second on a Schafferman ground out and scored on a Steinberg double. Steinberg came home when Chris Cook singled to left field. Cook went to third when Jeremy Haas reached on an error and after Tison walked, Soares doubled to make it 6-1.

In the seventh, Mason scored without the benefit of a hit as Shane Davis walked, Palumbo was hit by a pitch and the pair advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. Again a Schafferman ground out proved useful as Davis scored on one and Steinberg's ground out plated Palumbo to make it 8-1. The lead became eight runs in the eighth when Palumbo grounded out to score Soares, who had reached on a fielder's choice, gone to second on a walk by Hill and third on a Davis single.

Mason's final two runs came home in the ninth as Cook walked, Tison singled and Soares was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Hill then singled to make it 11-1.

The Patriots will have two days off after the long bus trip home. On Wednesday, they will play one of their toughest games of the year as they travel to Charlottesville to face No. 4 Virginia at 6 p.m.