ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The George Mason baseball team collected just two hits against Saint Louis and suffered a 15-0 loss at the Billiken Sports Center on Friday night in the first of a three game series.
The Billikens jumped out to a big lead in the home half of the first against Mason (8-18, 1-3) starter Tyler Zombro. Saint Louis sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning and scored six runs on five hits. Josh Bunselmeyer hit a three-run homer while Braxton Martinez and Devin Mahoney each hit solo home runs to build the 6-0 advantage.
Sophomore Ryan Ricci entered the game in relief and recorded the final out of the inning. Six runs are the most that Mason has allowed in the first inning this season.
Saint Louis (13-13, 4-0) added a run in the second inning on a RBI single to make it 7-0 and two more runs in the fourth on back-to-back solo home runs to increase the lead to 9-0. The Billikens hit five home runs, the most that Mason hurlers have allowed in a game this season.
Saint Louis crossed the plate twice in the sixth on a RBI single and a groundout to make it 11-0 and batted around for a second time in the game in the ninth, scoring four more runs for the 15-0 final score. The 15 runs are the third-most that Mason has allowed in a game this season.
The Patriots were limited to just two singles against Billikens starter Matt Eckelman. Senior Kent Blackstone and sophomore Tyler Nelin each went 1-for-4. Mason had scored 32 runs on 33 hits in its last two road games, but on Friday had just four base runners in the game as two Saint Louis pitchers combined for the two-hitter.
Seven different Billikens had a multi-hit game including Mahoney, who was 4-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. Saint Louis had 12 different players score at least one run.
Eckelman (5-2) allowed one hit in seven innings for the win. He struck out seven and walked two. Saint Louis is now 4-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and 9-1 at home this season. Mason fell to 1-6 on the road.
Zombro (1-5) allowed six runs on five hits in two-thirds of an inning. Ricci allowed three runs on five hits in his 4.1 innings of work. Freshman Matthew Yost pitched the sixth inning, allowing two runs on three hits and junior Ryan Galvin gave up four runs on four hits in two innings.
The middle game of the series is Saturday, April 2 with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
