RICHMOND,Va. – Jake Kalish gave the George Mason baseball team (8-11, 1-2) eight strong innings on his way to leading the Patriots to a 5-1 victory over Richmond (9-8, 2-1) in the final game of the series on Sunday.

Kalish struck out nine batters as he earned his first win of the season in five starts. Only six Spiders recorded a hit while they left seven men on base. The redshirt senior allowed one run to score in the bottom of the first.

Before Richmond scored its only run of the game Mason plated two in their first chance at bat. Michael Smith singled for the first of three times today with one out in the first and Kent Blackstone followed with his fourth triple of the year to score Smith. Blackstone came home after Trevor Kelly reached on a throwing error for the early two run lead.

Two more came across for Mason in the top of the third as well. Smith this time led off the inning with a single and Brandon Gum reached after getting hit by a pitch. Blackstone chopped a ball towards first that went over the first basemen's glove to score Smith from second. Gum advanced to third on the play and scored two batters later when Tyler Nelin skied a ball into left field.

Kalish was relieved by Tobin in the ninth inning, who struck out the first two batters he faced. The final run for Mason came across in the top of the seventh when Smith scored for the third time on Blackstone's second extra base hit of the game, a double to left-center field.

Mason begins a six-game homestand on Tuesday when Brown visits for a two-game series. First pitch on Tuesday, March 24 is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.