The
George Mason baseball team used a fifth-inning grand slam from Dan Schafferman
to take a lead on Northeastern and the Patriots scored eight runs in the final
five innings to beat the Huskies, 12-6. Mason evened its series with the
Huskies at 1-1 and got revenge on Northeastern starter Andrew Leenhouts, who
struck out 15 Mason batters in eight innings in last season's meeting.
Schafferman
was 4 for 5 with five RBI, Nick Allen had four hits, Brig Tison had three hits
and three RBI and Shane Davis and Jake Leonardo each had three hits. Mason had
20 hits on the day against the second-best pitching staff in the CAA. Connor
Lyons was 5 for 5 to pace Northeastern while Ricky Salvucci, Matt Miller, Aaron
Barbosa and Oliver Hart each had multiple hits.
The
Huskies (14-28, 9-14 CAA) scored in the top of the second to take an early lead
as Lyons singled, went to second when Hart reached on a fielder's choice and
the pair scored on a Salvucci single to right. Mason (20-29-1, 6-20) evened the
game in the bottom of the third. Allen and Leonardo led off the inning on a
pair of singles and after Chris Cook was hit by a pitch to load the bases,
Tison hit a sacrifice fly and Schafferman followed with an RBI double.
Northeastern
answered in the fourth when Connor Lyons singled, Sean Lyons doubled and
Salvucci had an RBI single. Lyons came home on Barbosa's sacrifice bunt to make
it 4-2. But in the bottom of the inning, Mason got to Leenhouts. The first-team
All-CAA selection last year who was top 10 in the CAA in ERA coming into the
game gave up five hits in the fifth. Leonardo and Hill led off with singles and
with one out, Tison singled to load the bases. Schafferman followed with a
homer to left, his fifth of the season.
Up
6-4, Mason added to the lead in the sixth when Allen singled, went to second on
a Cook single, the pair advanced on a wild pitch, and they scored on a Tison
double to make it 8-4. In the seventh, Northeastern pulled to within three when
Connor Lyons hit a two-out single and came
home on a Hart double. Mason got to double figures in the seventh. Davis
hit a one-out homer and Zack Helgeson, Allen and Leonardo all had singles to
make it 10-5. In the eighth, Barbosa hit a one-out triple and scored on an Alan
Pastyrnak Jr. ground out.
Mason
scored the final two runs of the game in the eighth when Schafferman singled,
stole second and scored on a Davis hit. Helgeson was hit by a pitch and Allen
made it 12-6 with a single to center. A.J. Johnson (3-5) picked up the win for
Mason going five and two-third innings. Brandon Bartlett pitched two and
one-third innings while Neight Hoffa pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Patriots and Huskie will conclude their series on Sunday
with first pitch at Spuhler Field scheduled for 1 p.m. Prior to the game, the
Patriots will honor their four seniors as part of Senior Day.