FAIRFAX, Va. – A ninth inning rally came up short as the George Mason baseball team (22-26-1) fell 3-2 to UMass (15-26) on Thursday afternoon at Spuhler Field.
The win by the Minutemen and the loss by the Patriots even their conference records at 11-11 with two games remaining in the regular season.
Mason trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth and got a rally started when Brady Acker walked for the second time and Ray Toto doubled into the left field corner for the his third hit of the day with zero outs. After a popup, Derek Evans grounded out to the right side, allowing Acker to score and Andrew Sable to move to third with two outs after pinch-running for Toto.
Michael Smith dropped a bunt that rolled in front of home plate however Ben Panunzio was able to pick it up and throw it to first in time to strand Sable and end the ballgame. Panunzio earned his first save by recording the final three outs.
The Minutemen opened the ballgame with one run in the top of the first thanks to two singles that sandwiched a sacrifice bunt. The Patriots nearly took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Tyler Nelin doubled with one out and Acker sent a ball that cleared the wall in left field but was caught and brought back by Dylan Robinson to keep the lead in UMass' favor.
Run number two for UMass off of Jake Kalish came in the top of the fifth unearned and the final run came in the top of the seventh on doubles by Rob McLam and Mike Geannelis. Kalish made his final home start, pitching six and two-thirds innings with five strikeouts and one walk.
Toto scored the first run for Mason in the bottom of the seventh after leading off with a single and rounding the bases after a walk, passed ball and sacrifice fly. He recorded three of Mason's five hits allowed by Ryan Moloney, who pitched eight innings in the win for UMass.
Luke Willis and Brandon Gum each went 0-4 on the afternoon, breaking their hit streaks of 26 and 25 games, respectively. Willis was one game short of tying the program record of 27 straight games with a hit. Joe Williams pitched a perfect two-and-a-third innings in relief of Kalish with two strikeouts.
The series continues on Friday, May 15 at 3:00 p.m.
