The George Mason baseball team used a six-run fifth
inning to overcome a four-run deficit but James Madison scored five unanswered
runs to come from behind and beat the Patriots, 11-9 on Saturday afternoon at
Spuhler Field. The Patriots fell to 11-16-1 on the season, 2-9 in the Colonial
Athletic Association while JMU improved to 19-9, 9-5.
Shane Davis
was 2 for 5 with five RBI, Brig Tison
had three hits and Chris Cook
and Dan Schafferman
each hit two hits for the
Patriots. Jake Lowery and David Herbek each had two hits and two RBI for the
Dukes, who got a terrific relief performance from James Weiner.
James Madison scored first as Ian Haynes led off
with a walk, Lowery followed with a double and Herbek's single made it 1-0.
Lowery came home on a Chris O'Grady
wild pitch. The Patriots answered in the
bottom of the first when Dan Schafferman
laced a two-out double and Davis
homered to make it 2-2.
The Dukes took advantage of a Mason error in the
second as Joe Townsend reached on an error by third baseman Blaise Fernandez
,
Cole McInturff walked and the Dukes made it 3-2 on Haynes' sacrifice bunt. Two
more unearned runs scored when Lowery followed with his 14th
homer
of the year. James Madison added one more run in the fourth when Haynes
doubled, stole third, and scored on a Herbeck ground out.
Mason's six-run fifth inning was its biggest inning
since it scored seven against Long Island on Feb. 25. It started when Jake
Leonardo walked with one out and Nick Allen
hit his first homer to the year, a
blast to straight-away centerfield. Cook followed with a walk, Tison doubled
and after Schafferman drew an intentional walk, Davis hit just the second
triple of his career to make it 7-6. Davis made it a two-run lead on Blaise Fernandez
'
grounder to short.
The Dukes started chipping away at the lead in the
sixth when Allen dropped a two-out pop up in right and Matt Tenaglia followed
with a single. The tying run scored in the seventh when Townsend singled, went
from first to third on A.J. Johnson
's errant pick-off throw, and scored on a
McInturff ground out. The score stayed 8-8 until the ninth when Tyler McFarland
took advantage of an outfield collision by Davis and Schafferman to reach on a
lead-off triple. Bradley Shaban followed with a one-out double and pinch-hitter
Alex Foltz hit a two-run homer to make it 11-8.
The Patriots threatened in the bottom of the ninth
as Allen reached on a one-out error and Cook and Tison followed with singles to
make it 11-9. But Weiner got Schafferman and Davis to strike out to end the
game.
The Patriots and Dukes conclude their series
tomorrow at 1 p.m.
