The George Mason baseball team ran its winning
streak to six straight on Sunday afternoon as the Patriots scored seven
unanswered runs to open the game and then put eight unanswered on the board
late in the contest to beat the Long Island Blackbirds, 15-8.
The Patriots got three-hit games from Brig Tison
,
Dan Schafferman
, Shane Davis
and Jake Kalish
while Jeremy Haas
had a team-high
three RBI as Mason improve to 6-2 on the year. The winning streak, which began
last Sunday with a win over Wofford, is the longest active streak in the CAA.
In the bottom of the first, the Patriots scored five
runs. Chris Cook
led off with a double, Tison singled and Schafferman walked to
load the bases. Zack Helgeson
hit an infield single to make it 1-0 and the
throwing error by Drew Walsh on the play made it 2-0. After Davis walked to
once again load the bases, Kalish hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead. Haas
walked to again load the bases and Danny Lyons
followed with a single and Nick
Allen added a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 advantage.
The lead grew to 7-0 in the bottom of the second
when Schafferman singled, stole second, took third on a Helgeson fly out and
after Davis was hit by a pitch, Kalish singled to make it 6-0. Haas and Lyons
followed with walks to make it a seven-run lead.
Long Island got its first run in the third when Sam
Sciamarelli doubled and Tyler Jones singled to cut the Patriot lead to six. The
lead disappeared in the fourth behind four hits and three walks. Tito Marrero
doubled to start things, went to third on a ground out and after Albert Faz
walked, Marrero scored on a wild pitch. Diego Perez followed with a walk and
Julian Castro added an RBI single. Brad Greve singled to load the bases ending the
day for Mason starter Nick Kendrick
and bring in reliever T.J. O'Grady
. After
getting the second out on a fly out, Tyler Jones walked to make it 7-4 and Drew
Walsh followed with a two-run single to cut the lead to one. On the play,
Jeremy Haas
throw got away from Tison at third and went into the Mason dugout
to even the ledger at 7-7.
That was all the Blackbirds would manage until the
ninth. Mason was able to retake the momentum in the fifth as Tison singled,
stole second, took third on a Schafferman single and scored when Helgeson laced
a ball to third that Perez couldn't hold on to. In the sixth, Kalish singled
and Haas followed with a homer to make it 10-7. In the seventh, Schafferman was
hit by a pitch, stole second, took third on a fly out and scored on a Davis
single through the right side.
In the eighth, Cook reached base to start things
when he was hit by a pitch, Tison followed with a single and a wild pitch made
it 12-7. Schafferman singled home Tison and later scored on a Davis double.
Davis came home on a Haas single to make it 15-7. The Blackbirds scored their
final run in the ninth when Walsh singled with one out in the ninth, went to
second on a walk, took third on a single and scored on a Schafferman error in right.
The Patriots will travel to Mount St. Mary's on
Tuesday to take on The Mount at 3 p.m.
