WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The George Mason baseball team fell behind early and could not muster the offense to come back, dropping the Colonial Athletic Association series opener at William & Mary, 11-2, on Friday night at Plumeri Park. W&M improved to 27-16 and 10-6 in CAA play, while the Patriots dropped to 14-30, 5-17 in conference.

Mason posted just four hits, including a two-RBI single by Duncan Satherlie in the ninth inning which broke up the Tribe's shutout bid. Blaise Fernandez, Patrick Esposito and Brandon Gum each also recorded a base hit, while Shaw and Sarty each posted three-hit games to pace the Tribe, which tallied 15 hits.

John Farrell (8-1) picked up the win after tossing seven innings, allowing just three hits while fanning seven. Mason's Jared Gaynor (2-7) was saddled with the loss after starting and allowing nine runs (six earned) in three-plus innings of work. Michael Bowie struck out five in a 3.1-inning relief outing while Chris Payne tossed a scoreless ninth.

W&M got on the board in the first inning, as a leadoff single by Brown and a sacrifice bunt put a runner in scoring position. Michael Katz reached base on a throwing error by the Patriots, which moved him all the way to third base and scoring Brown.  A sacrifice fly by Lindemuth drove in Katz, making the score 2-0.

Mason's first hit came in the second, a single to left by Esposito, but the Tribe exploded for six runs on seven hits in the bottom half of the inning to take an 8-0 lead. After 1-2-3 innings on each side during the third, the Patriots got another hit as Fernandez singled up the middle, but an RBI single by Sarty left the score 9-0.

The Tribe added runs in the sixth and seventh on a pair of sacrifice flies by Ryan Williams and Lindemuth, but the Patriots cut the deficit to 11-2 on Satherlie's two-out hitting, which scored Derek Evans and Fernandez who walked and was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth, respectively.

The series continues Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.