The George Mason baseball team was in control for
six innings on Sunday afternoon but the VCU Rams took charge in the final three
as they scored nine unanswered runs over those innings to come back and beat
the Patriots, 15-10 in the finale of the three-game series.
Entering the ninth inning, the Patriots held a 10-9
lead but the Rams took advantage of a one-out error to put the tying run on
base. Landon Prentiss reached when Brig Tison
's throw to first was high and
Zack Helgeson
had it go off his glove. Ryan Caldwell followed with a walk and
ball four was a wild pitch that let Prentiss go to third. Prentiss came home on
Paul Nice's single. Jon Lenherr was intentionally walked to load the bases and
Michael Cheatham delivered with a two-run single to make it 12-10. Taylor
Perkins was then intentionally walked to again load the bases and the Patriots
were able to get the second out on a Kyle Sutherland ground out, but Chris
Ayers followed with a two-run single to make it 15-10. Mason got the leadoff
runner on in the bottom of the ninth but couldn't put together a rally.
The Patriots had trailed 2-0 after the first inning as
the first two batters of the game reached on a pair of errors and scored on a
Lenherr single. But Mason took the lead in the second and held it for seven
innings. The three-run second happened when Blaise Fernandez
led off with a
double and scored on a Helgeson single. Jeremy Haas
was hit by a pitch and
Danny Lyons
' bunt single loaded the bases. A Nick Allen
sacrifice fly made it
2-2 and Chris Cook
singled to give the Patriots a one-run lead. In the third,
Mason added two more as Helgeson singled, went to second when Haas' grounder
was misplayed and he scored on a Lyons double. Haas came home on an Allen
ground out. The Patriots made it 6-2 in the fourth when Tison doubled, went to
third on a Dan Schafferman
ground out and scored on a Shane Davis
sacrifice
fly.
Trailing 6-2, VCU pulled to within one in the fifth.
Bill Cullen was hit by a pitch, Nice singled and Lenherr walked to load the
bases. After starter T.J. O'Grady
got a strikeout, Perkins singled to make it
6-3. Chris O'Grady
came on in relief and gave up a two-run single to Sutherland
but he got Ayers to ground into a double play to end the inning. Mason answered
in the bottom of the fifth, though, as Helgeson walked, Haas singled and Lyons'
sacrificed the runners into scoring position. A wild pitch plated Helgeson and
Haas scored on an Allen sacrifice fly.
The Rams put a run on the board in the sixth when
Prentiss singled and he came home when Haas dropped a fly ball off the bat of
Nice. But Mason pushed it back to a four-run lead in the bottom of the sixth
when Davis singled with one out and Helgeson homered with two down to make it
10-6.
That's when VCU started its comeback. The Rams
scored once in the seventh on a Perkins homer, then in the eighth, Nice and
Lenherr walked to lead off the inning, Cheathem singled to load the bases and
after one run scored on a double play, Sutherland singled to make it 10-9.
Brandon Kuter
came on to end the inning but that set the stage for the ninth.
The two teams combined to use 14 pitchers and VCU
scored seven unearned runs on four Mason errors while the Patriots played two
unearned runs on the Rams' lone error. Helgeson was 3 for 4 with three RBI and
four runs scored while Cook was 3 for 6 and Allen had three RBI. Brig Tison
extended his hitting streak to 13 straight. For VCU, Sutherland had four RBI,
Nice scored four runs and Ayers had three hits. The Patriots will return to
action on Tuesday when they travel to UMBC for a 6 p.m. contest.
