The
George Mason baseball team saw all three phases come together on Wednesday
afternoon as the offense hit three home runs, the pitching kept the ball down
and got 13 groundball outs and the defense did not commit an error as the
Patriots beat the Navy Midshipmen, 13-6.
Jeremy
Haas, Zack Helgeson
and Jake Leonardo
each went deep as the Patriots pounded
out 14 hits and turned three double plays in winning for the fourth time in six
games. Blaise Fernandez
, Mick Foley
, Dan Schafferman
and Brig Tison
each had
multiple hits and Tison stole a pair of bases as the Patriots improved to
15-19-1 on the year. Navy, which got a 4 for 5 performance from Jonathan
Wright, fell to 20-14-1.
In
the first, Alex Azor doubled, Taylor Cato walked and Dave Milanes doubled to
make it 2-0. But the Patriots answered in the bottom of the inning. Tison
walked, Schafferman reached on a hit and Shane Davis
singled to plate Tison and
make it 2-1. Fernandez' fielder's choice moved Schafferman to third and he came
home on a throwing error by shortstop Dylan Wheeler. Fernandez went to second
on the play and scored on a Foley single to give Mason a 3-2 lead.
The
Midshipmen tied the game in the second as Wheeler singled, went to second on a
ground out, took third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch. It stayed
3-3 until the third when Helgeson walked and scored on Leonardo's two-out
two-run homer, which put Mason ahead fr good. Navy trimmed the lead to one run
in the fifth when, with two outs, Brandon Beans singled, Wright singled and
Craig Veech was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Wheeler walked to make it 5-4
but reliever Michael Bowie
got a pop up to end the threat.
The
Patriots scored four in the bottom of the fifth to put the game away. Fernandez
doubled to lead off the inning, Helgeson walked and Foley reached on an infield
single to load the bases. Leonardo hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4 and Haas
followed with his fourth homer of the year for a 9-4 lead. Navy answered with
two in the sixth when Cato and Milanes hit one-out singled, advanced to scoring
position on a ground out and scored on a Wright base hit. But the Patriots got
the runs back in the sixth when Schafferman doubled to lead off the inning and
scored on Helgeson's two-out homer, his team-leading 11th
of the
year.
In
the bottom of the seventh, Leonardo walked, Cook doubled and Leonardo came home
on a Tison ground out. The final run scored in the eighth when Davis reached on
a throwing error and Fernandez followed with a triple to make it 13-6.
The
Patriots are in action this weekend in Hempstead, N.Y. when they face Hofstra
on Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
