Jordan Hill
tied a school record with two triples,
Dan Schafferman
had four hits and two homers and Kevin Lingerman
returned to
the mound for the first time in nearly two years as the George Mason baseball
team used a six-run sixth inning to power past George Washington and beat the
Colonials, 15-8. It's the eighth-straight win for Mason over GW and the
Patriots have scored in double figures in all eight of those wins.
Mason (12-17-1) got a 4 for 5 game from Schafferman
who had five RBI and Hill was 3 for 5 with three RBI. Zack Helgeson
homered and
he and Brig Tison
and Nick Allen
each had two hits. Brendon Kelliher led GW (9-20)
going 5 for 5 with two homers and three RBI while Stephen Oswald was 3 for 4
with three RBI.
The Colonials jumped on the board in the first as Kelliher
and Ollie Mittage singled, Owen Beightol walked to load the bases and Oswald
hit a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Tyler McCarthy followed with a walk to
reload the bases and after Brett Bowers struck out, Jim Best walked for a 2-0
lead. Mason countered in the bottom of the first when Chris Cook
was hit by a
pitch to lead off the inning and Schafferman followed with a one-out home run
and a 2-2 tie.
The Colonials retook the lead in the second on a
one-out solo homer by Kelliher but Mason answered immediately. Jake Leonardo
reached on a one-out error and Hill followed with a single through the right
side. Leonardo went to third on Cook's fly out to deep right and scored on a Tison
single. Hill went to third on Tison's hit and scored on a Schafferman single to
left for a 4-3 Patriot lead.
In the top of the fourth, redshirt sophomore Kevin
Lingerman came on for Mason making his first appearance since May of 2009. He
got Joe Motto to ground out to lead off the inning but Jordan Berry singled up
the middle and Kelliher hit his second homer of the game, this one a blast to
left, to give GW a 5-4 lead. But Schafferman batted in the bottom of the fourth,
and with two outs, his solo homer knotted the score at 5-5.
The Colonials retook the lead in the fifth as
Brandon Lindsey
came on in relief and the first batter he faced, Oswald,
homered to make it 6-5. McCarthy and Bowers followed with singles to put runners
on the corners and Best's double play ball plated McCarthy. The lead didn't
last long as reliever Kenny O'Brien gave up a lead-off single to Allen and Helgeson
followed with his eighth homer of the year to tie the score at 7-7.
In the top of the sixth, Kelliher led off with his
fourth hit of the game, went to second on a ground out and scored on a single
by Oswald. But that 8-7 lead was the last one of the game for the Colonials. In
the bottom of the sixth with one out, Tison was hit by a pitch and Schafferman
doubled to make it 8-8. Shane Davis
reached on an error that brought Tison home
with the go-ahead run. Allen followed with a double and Helgeson walked to load
the bases. Jeremy Haas
walked to make it 10-8 and Leonardo's fielder's choice
made it 11-8. Hill iced the game with his first triple, making it 13-8. The
Patriots added a run in the seventh when Tison doubled, went to third on a
ground out, and scored on a Davis ground out. In the eighth, Leonardo was hit
by a pitch and Hill hit his second triple to make it a seven-run game.
The Patriots and Colonials will play again on
Wednesday, this time at Barcroft Park in Arlington at 3 p.m.
