Patriots Continue Homestand with Weekend Series Against Cornell

Baseball 3/10/2017 4:33:00 AM

FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason baseball team continues its season-long eight-game homestand this weekend, hosting Cornell beginning Friday at Spuhler Field in Fairfax, Va. The first pitch Friday and Saturday is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and Sunday's matchup is slated for 1 p.m.

Mason (5-8) split a two-game midweek series against Radford. After dropping the first game against the Highlanders, the Patriots fell behind in the second game in the first inning before collecting 10 hits on the way to a 6-4 win.

Senior Brock Hunter (1-1) earned his first win as a Patriot in his second start of the season. He allowed three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and just two walks over 5.0 innings.

"Brock was fantastic again for us," Mason head coach Bill Brown said. "He competes and always wants one more inning and he got through five and earned a well-deserved win."

After allowing the first four Radford batters to reach base in the first inning, Hunter retired 13 of the next 17 batters he faced in the outing.

"It feels great and it's just good to have a team win," Hunter said of his first victory in a Mason uniform. "I just wanted to give us a chance. I got the win and I'm glad to have it, but I'm glad we're back on track. The first inning didn't go as planned but I got into a grove to go five innings and give the bullpen a little break."

Freshman Jakob Ryan pitched two-thirds of an inning in his third appearance of the season, junior Timothy Turner didn't allow a hit over 1.1 innings of work and senior Tyler Tobin tossed 2.0 scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the season and ninth career.

Freshman Logan Driscoll went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Junior Tyler Nelin was 2-for-5 and drove in his 13th run of the season. Sophomore Greg Popatak II drove in a pair of runs, while junior Michael Smith reached base twice and scored both times.

Every player in the starting lineup for Mason reached base and seven players had at least one hit in the win over Radford. The Patriots went 5-for-14 (.417) with runners in scoring position.

"Up and down the order we were productive," Brown said. "We did what we needed to do and the best part was that we handled the baseball with the zero in the error column, that's what was important."

Logan Driscoll is 18-for-52 (.346) and leads the team with 14 RBI. Nelin is 18-for-56 (.321) and leads the team with nine extra-base hits, including four home runs and five doubles. Smith and Driscoll share the team lead with 15 runs scored.

"I believe we're going to be in a lot of close games and we have to be prepared to win them," said Brown. "Cornell has always been a really tough team. They've been here before and they play hard. It's going to be a really tough weekend series and we need to be ready to play."

Mason is 4-1 in the all-time series against Cornell. In the last meeting, the teams split a doubleheader at Spuhler Field on April 2, 2014. In game one, the Patriots edged the Big Red 2-1 with each team collecting just three hits. Cornell then earned a 3-2 win in the nightcap for it's first-ever win against Mason.

CORNELL SCOUTING REPORT:

Cornell was 14-24 overall and finished in fourth place in the Ivy League's Lou Gehrig Division with a record of 7-13 last season. The Big Red went 6-5 at home, 7-17 on the road and had a 1-2 record in neutral site games during the 2016 campaign.

The Big Red has only played three games this season and enter the weekend series against the Patriots with a 2-1 record after winning two of three games against Navy in Annapolis, Md.

Cornell split a doubleheader against the Midshipmen on March 4, winning game one 5-2 before Navy claimed game two 8-7. The Big Red won the series with an 8-5 win on March 5. Cornell drew 21 walks in the three games against Navy.

Junior Dale Wickham went 9-for-15 with four RBI in the series against Navy and was named Ivy League Player of the Week. He leads the Big Red with a .600 average, three doubles and four RBI.

PROBABLE STARTERS:

Friday: Mason RHP Tyler Zombro (0-2, 2.81) | Cornell RHP Tim Willittes (1-0, 3.18)
Saturday: Mason LHP Brian Marconi (1-1, 6.92) | Cornell LHP Justin Lewis (0-0, 4.15)
Sunday: Mason RHP Zach Mort (1-1, 3.15) | Cornell RHP Paul Balestrieri (1-0, 0.00)

STRIKE ZONE:

Baseball is the oldest intercollegiate sport at Cornell, playing for the first time in 1869. No player in Big Red history had ever hit three home runs in a game until Dale Wickham accomplished the feat last season in a game at Princeton, when he homered in three at-bats against the Tigers.

Print Friendly Version