The George Mason baseball team loaded the bases in the ninth inning, but the tying run was stranded 90 feet away on Sunday afternoon, as the Patriots fell at William & Mary, 3-2. It was the second-straight one-run road loss for the Patriots who lost 2-1 in 11 innings on Saturday.

A.J. Johnson had a brilliant start for Mason allowing three runs, two of them earned, in seven and one-third innings. He struck out a season-high six and walked none but took the loss falling to 2-1. Cole Shain went six innings allowing one run for the Tribe and Ryan Williams picked up the win in relief to improve to 1-0. Shane Davis and Chris Cook each had two hits for Mason, which fell to 9-11-1, 0-6 in the CAA. William & Mary improved to 9-13, 5-4 as Jonathan Slattery had three hits and Tadd Bower and Buster Gean each had two hits.

In the top of the first, the Patriots had two hits, a walk and a hit batter but couldn't score a run. Cook led off with a single and with one out, was thrown out stealing. Blaise Fernandez followed with a walk, Davis singled and Zack Helgeson was hit by a pitch but Nick Allen struck out to end the threat. In the second, Mason got a one-out hit but grounded into a double play. In the third, Blaise Fernandez and Davis had back-to-back two-out singles but Helgeson struck out to once again keep the Patriots off the board.

The fifth inning saw Cook reach on a one-out double but a pair of ground outs kept the Patriots from taking a lead. Johnson had to work out of trouble for the first time in the bottom of the fifth when Gean reached on a leadoff single. A sacrifice bunt and a ground out moved him to third but Johnson got Derrick Osteen to ground out to end the threat.

Mason finally broke through in the fifth when Helgeson singled up the middle with one out and after Allen walked, Mick Foley singled up the middle to make it 1-0. Johnson gave up a one-out double in the bottom of the inning but got a fly out and ground out to strand the runner. Mason put the leadoff runner on in the seventh when Cook drew a five-pitch walk off reliever Reid Killen, but Tison grounded into a double play.

The Tribe tied the game in the seventh. With two outs, Chris Forsten and Ryan Brown hit back-to-back doubles down the leftfield line, both times putting the ball just out of reach of Fernandez at third. Mason threatened in the eighth when Davis singled and Allen drew a one-out walk. But pinch hitter Dan Schafferman grounded into a double play, the third one turned on the day by William & Mary. That momentum shift was all William & Mary needed.

In the eighth, Jonathan Slattery reached on a one-out single, Ryan Williams reached on an error and back-to-back singles by Tadd Bower and Ryan Lindemuth gave the Tribe a 3-1 lead and knocked Johnson out of the game. Brandon Kuter came on and after a fly out, Buster Gean singled but Davis made a strong throw from left to gun down the runner and end the inning.

In the ninth, Jeremy Haas reached on a one-out error and Cook followed with a single to put runners on the corners with one out. Tison followed with a walk and Fernandez' ground out made it 3-2. Davis was intentionally walked to reload the bases but the game ended when Helgeson grounded out on a close play at first. The Patriots will return to the action on Tuesday when they play at Georgetown at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md. at 3 p.m.