The George Mason baseball team gave up three runs in
the second inning and couldn't rally from the early deficit as the Hofstra
Pride held on to beat the Patriots, 5-2 on a cold Saturday morning in
Hempstead, N.Y. The game started at 10:30 a.m. due to expected bad weather in
the afternoon, and while the Patriots outhit the Pride, they were unable to get
key runs home several times as they dropped a series to Hofstra for the first
time in school history.
Blaise Fernandez
had three hits, including two
doubles, Danny Lyons
had three hits and Brig Tison
extended his hitting streak
to 16 straight. Chris O'Grady
was excellent in relief, striking out seven and
allowing just two hits and one walk in three and two-third innings. But Ryan
Pfaeffle couldn't get out of the fifth as he allowed five runs, four earned, in
four and one-third innings of work. Rob Kumbatovic picked up the win for
Hofstra, scattering seven hits and one run in seven innings. Joe Perez was 2
for 4 with two RBI for Hofstra.
In the bottom of the second, Perez led off with a
homer, the first Hofstra hit of the game. With one out, Dylan Nasiatka reached
on an error by Mick Foley
and scored on a Kenny Jackson double. Jackson came
home on a Logan Davis single to make it 3-0. Mason scored its first run in the
fourth when Fernandez and Zack Helgeson
hit back-to-back doubles, but Hofstra
answered in the bottom of the inning when Jackson reached on a fielder's
choice, stole second and scored on a Taylor Stuart single.
In the fifth, Danny Poma led off with a single, went
to second on a sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on a Perez single. Mason
got a run back in the eighth when Dan Schafferman
singled and came home on a
Helgeson two-out double. But that was the final run of the game as the Patriots
fell to 15-21-1, 3-14 in the CAA. Hofstra improved to 8-20, 7-10. The Patriots
scored in two of the nine innings and had base runners on in six of the other
seven innings but Mason stranded nine runners in the game.
The Patriots return to action on Sunday when they
look to avoid a sweep as they face Hofstra at 1 p.m.
