ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The George Mason baseball team allowed 15 runs for the second straight game, falling to Saint Louis 15-6 at the Billiken Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
On a day where the wind was howling to left field throughout the game, sophomore left-hander Joe Williams retired three of the first four batters he faced and also picked off a baserunner in the first inning.
Saint Louis (14-13, 5-0) took the lead in the second inning. After an infield single and a double put runners on second and third with one out, sophomore James Morisano drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 1-0 and sophomore Alex King knocked in a run with a single and the Billikens had a 2-0 lead. Mason (8-19, 1-4) has allowed the first run in seven of the last nine games.
In the third the Billikens used back-to-back home runs, both hit over the left field fence, to score three more times to increase the lead to 5-0. Saint Louis improved to 10-1 at home and Mason fell to 1-6 on the road this season.
The Billikens also had two big innings in the game. In the fifth, Saint Louis batted around and scored five times on five hits. Williams allowed a two-run homer to straight away center and the Billikens had built a 7-0 advantage.
After walking the next batter, Williams gave way to freshman Bryce Nightengale, who entered the game in relief with no outs in the fifth inning. With runners on first and second, Nightengale surrendered a three-run home run to left-center and Saint Louis was ahead 10-0. The Billikens have hit 10 round trippers off of four different Mason pitchers in the first two games of the series.
The Patriots had a rough time at the plate against Saint Louis starter Miller Hogan, who retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced in the game. Mason dented the scoreboard in the top of the seventh when freshman Tim Quinn reached on an error and scored when classmate Caleb Walls laced a two-out RBI single into center field.
Saint Louis padded its lead in the bottom of the seventh, pushing five more runs across the plate with two singles, a triple and a home run to make the score 15-1. The Billikens finished the day with 20 hits, the most that the Patriots have allowed in a game this season. Saint Louis is 5-0 and Mason is 1-4 in Atlantic 10 play.
Mason loaded the bases in the eighth inning against the Billikens. Sophomore Tyler Nelin led off with a single and scored on a RBI ground out by Quinn. Freshman Jonathan Hansen also drove in a run in the inning with a single. The Patriots trailed 15-3 going into the final frame but wouldn't give up.
Nelin connected for his second home run of the season in the ninth, a two-run blast over the left field wall. Senior Kent Blackstone tripled off the wall in center and junior Jayme Murray drove in the final run of the game.
Freshman Alejandro Aponte singled in both the seventh and ninth innings, going 2-for-2 for his first collegiate hits. Nelin went 2-for-5 with two RBI and scored twice. Blackstone was 2-for-4 with a walk and scored two runs and Hansen went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Williams (0-4) allowed eight runs on 11 hits in 4.0 innings of work. Nightengale surrendered seven runs on eight hits in 3.0 innings and Aguilera pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Patriots.
The final game of the series is Sunday, April 3 with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.