The George Mason baseball team returned home to
Spuhler Field for the first time in more than two weeks and the Patriots
enjoyed playing at homer as they picked up their first Colonial Athletic
Association win of the season, beating UNC Wilmington, 9-7 in the opener of a
three-game series.
Mason entered the game winless in their past 10
outings but the Patriots never trailed in the contest despite numerous UNCW
rallies. The Patriots used a strong start from Ryan Pfaeffle
and excellent
performance by Jake Kalish
and Brandon Kuter
out of the bullpen to improve to
10-12-1 on the season, 1-6 in the CAA. The Seahawks fell to 12-10, 4-3 as they
weren't able to overcome a rocky start by Tyler McSwain.
The Patriots got on the board quickly as Chris Cook
led off the bottom of the first with a single, went to second on a wild pitch
and scored on a Dan Schafferman
single. Schafferman stole second and after
Shane Davis
and Blaise Fernandez
walked, Zack Helgeson
singled for a 2-0 lead.
The Patriots stranded the bases loaded however as Mick Foley
struck out and
Danny Lyons
grounded out. In the second, Mason added two more runs as Nick
Allen tripled and scored on a wild pitch and Brig Tison
tripled and scored on a
wild pitch.
After retiring the first seven batters, Pfaeffle got
into some trouble in the third when Jake Koenig singled and Michael Bass
homered. But the Patriots answered with three runs in the third to stake him to
a five-run lead. Helgeson walked, Foley singled and Lyons reached when McSwain
mishandled his sacrifice bunt. That ended McSwain's day and brought on Jack
Lane with the bases loaded and no outs. Nick Allen
greeted him with a two-run
double and after Cook grounded out, Tison singled to make it 7-2.
The Seahawks trimmed the lead in the fifth when
Thomas Pope was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a Bass single. They
finally got to Pfaeffle for good in the sixth as Matt Campbell singled and
Hunter Ridge doubled to make it 7-4. Andrew Cain followed with an RBI single
and Ryan LaGrange's double ended Pfaeffle's outing as he departed with a 7-6
lead. Kalish came on and got a ground out and a pop out to preserve the lead.
Shane Davis
gave the Patriots a cushion in the seventh with a solo homer after
Lane had retired 10 straight batters. But UNCW answered in the eighth when
LaGrange hit a one-out double and came home on a Koenig single. Kalish walked a
pair to load the bases but got Alex Hill to fly out to end the threat.
The game's final run came in the bottom of the eighth when Lyons walked, went to second
on a sacrifice bunt by Allen, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a
sacrifice fly by Cook. The only bad news of the day came late in the inning
when Tison was hit by a pitch on the helmet and had to leave the game. Brandon
Kuter pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the year.
The Patriots and Seahawks will play a doubleheader
at Noon on Saturday, a pair of nine-inning games.
