The George Mason baseball team hit the road on Tuesday afternoon, traveling to Richmond to face the Spiders in a non-conference contest and the Patriots weren't able to come away with a road win, falling to the Spiders, 5-2.

Blaise Fernandez was 2 for 3 with a homer while Brig Tison was 2 for 5. Bryan Conway led the Spiders at the plate going 2 for 4 with two RBI while Shawn O'Neill went seven innings allowing just six hits and one walk to pick up the win for Richmond.

After three scoreless innings, the Patriots got on the board in the fourth when Dan Schafferman was hit by a pitch, went to second on Zack Helgeson 's grounder, took third when Jeremy Haas was hit by a pitch, and scored on a Fernandez sacrifice fly.

The one-run lead didn't hold, though, as Mike Mergenthaler led off the fourth with a walk, Jacob Mayers followed with a single and after a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, Phil Ruzbarsky walked to load the bases. Nick Kendrick got a strikeout, but then a two-out single by Conway made it 2-1. After Bret Williams was hit by a pitch, Mike Small singled to make it 4-1. Richmond added another run in the fifth on a two-out solo homer by Robby Massar.

The Patriots were able to cut a run off the lead in the seventh when Fernandez led off the inning with a homer but that was all Mason could manage. Reliever Daniel Clark got the final six outs not allowing a hit and striking out four.

The Patriots and Spiders will play again on Wednesday, this time at Spuhler Field, with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m.