The George Mason baseball team could not open its
weekend series with Towson with a victory, but Chris Cook
did set a new school
record while Brig Tison
inched closer to another as the Patriots fell to
Towson, 12-4. Cook was hit by a pitch in the third inning, the 23rd
time this season, breaking a tie with Evan Howard (2002) for most times hit by
a pitch in a season. Tison, after going hitless in his first three at-bats,
singled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 24-straight, one shy of
tying Eddie Jordan's school record.
Nick Natoli led off the first inning with a home run
and in the second, it was Chris Wychock who went deep to make it 2-0. In the
third, Pat Fitzgerald hit a one-out double, went to third on a passed ball and
scored on an Austin Harclerode ground out. Andrew Parker was hit by a pitch
with two outs and Steve Rice went deep to make it 5-0. In the fourth, Dominic
Fratantuono hit a two-out solo homer to make 6-0. In the fifth, Harclerode
doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Rice. Wychock and Ben
Winter followed with singles to bring Rice home for an 8-0 lead.
After reliever Brandon Lindsey
threw a pair of
scoreless innings, Towson got back on the board in the eighth. With one out,
Natoli singled and Jake Kalish
couldn't hold onto Pat Fitzgerald's fly ball to deep
right. With runners on second and third, Harclerode doubled to make it 10-0. Sean
Cabrera came on in relief and he hit Parker and gave up a single to Rice to
load the bases before Wychock grounded out to make it 11-0.
Down by double figures, the only drama remaining was
whether Tison would extend his hitting streak. In the bottom of the eighth,
after a Cook walk, Tison laced a 3-1 pitch up the middle for his lone hit of
the game. With runners on the corners, Mike Bronakoski came into the game and he
needed help from Ben Winter, who made a terrific diving catch in center to rob Dan
Schafferman of an extra-base hit. Cook scored on the sacrifice fly and Blaise
Fernandez followed with a two-run homer to make it 11-3. Shane Davis
walked, Nick
Allen singled, Danny Lyons
was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Jake
Kalish was hit by a pitch to bring home a run making it 11-4.
But the Tigers (19-20-1, 10-9 CAA) got a run back in
the ninth when Brian Wyman doubled, Brandon Gonella singled, and Pat Fitzgerald
hit a sacrifice fly to make it 12-4. The Patriots (17-27-1, 4-18 CAA) and
Tigers continue their series on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
