May 13, 2010
Watch Coach Brown's Video Preview of the VCU Series
The George Mason baseball team will play its final home Colonial Athletic Association series of the season this weekend when the Patriots host VCU in a battle of two teams among the top four in the CAA. Mason, at 10-8, is in fourth place trailing VCU, which is tied for second with Georgia State at 12-5-1. All three teams are chasing first-place James Madison (14-4). Friday's game is at 3 p.m., Saturday's is at 2 p.m. and Sunday's is at 1 p.m. On Sunday, Mason will honor its eight seniors pre-game. It will also be Alumni Day for the baseball team. Live audio of all three games will be available on GoMason.com. Tune in 15 minutes prior to first pitch to hear head coach Bill Brown and the day's starting pitcher discuss the contest.
In a season when only the top four teams will make the CAA Tournament, a bad showing by either school could spell trouble for their postseason hopes. Each team has six games remaining with the Patriots playing Towson next weekend while VCU will battle JMU. Chasing Mason is UNCW at 11-10, William & Mary and Hofstra at 9-9 and Towson at 9-12.
The two teams took different paths to where they currently stand. VCU opened the season 11-1 in conference play, beating up on Northeastern, William & Mary, Towson and Hofstra. The Rams followed that by going 0-2-1 against Georgia State and 1-2 at UNCW. The Patriots opened the season 3-5 before running off seven straight CAA wins. The winning streak ended two weeks ago when they were swept at Georgia State in a weekend when the team was ravaged by injuries. Starting catcher Brett Hendricks went out on Friday, top reliever Anthony Montefusco went out for the season on Saturday and shortstop Ryan Soares was hurt on Sunday. Despite those injuries Mason nearly took two of three but ended up on the wrong side of the sweep. Both Hendricks and Soares are expected back in the lineup this weekend.
Soares, who is one of the top shortstops in the nation, is hitting .411 with eight homers, 24 doubles and 60 RBI. He's among the nation's leaders in doubles per game and RBI game and his 12 sacrifice flies lead the nation and are two shy of the single-season national record. He also is one double shy of tying the school's single-season record for doubles. Mark Hill and Dan Palumbo are also batting better than .400. Hill is batting .410 with a .526 on-base percentage, the second-highest single-season mark in school history, and Palumbo is batting .402.
Joe Van Meter and Richard Gonzalez are the top hitters in VCU's lineup. Van Meter is hitting .409 with seven homers, 57 RBI and 13 steals. Gonzalez is batting .394 with 15 steals. As a team, VCU is hitting .311 with a 5.15 ERA and a .955 fielding percentage. Mason is batting .327 with a 5.01 ERA and a .967 fielding percentage. The Patriots are the only conference school to be among the top three in the CAA in hitting, pitching and fielding.
Mason will send Kevin Crum, Ryan Brecko and Chris O'Grady to the mound. Crum, a redshirt senior, is 5-2 with a 3.88 ERA. He was first-team All-CAA last year and this season, he has allowed just 13 walks in 55.2 innings of work. Brecko, a senior, is 3-0 and when he takes the mound on Saturday, he will tie the school record for career appearances. O'Grady, a redshirt freshman, is 3-0 with a 3.18 ERA and a .234 opposing batting average, which is among the top 10 in the conference.
The Rams are expected to send Ryan Farrar and Seth Cutler-Voltz to the mound with Sunday's starter to be determined. Farrar is 2-3 with a 7.50 ERA while Cutler-Voltz is 5-3 with a 2.99 ERA and he has struck out 58 with just 20 walks in 87.1 innings of work.
