FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason freshman Logan Driscoll hit his first career grand slam, while sophomore starter Brian Marconi tossed six strong innings to lead the Patriots to an 11-4 win over Cornell on Saturday afternoon at Spuhler Field.

Mason (6-9) fell behind in the top of the first when Marconi walked the first batter of the game and Cornell junior Ellis Bitar followed with a triple to the gap in right-center field to put the Big Red in front 1-0.

The Patriots have allowed at least one run in the first inning in each of the last five games.

Mason answered in the home half of the first, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring four runs on two singles against Cornell starter Justin Lewis. 

Sophomore Michael Smith was hit by a pitch to start the inning, junior Frank Sturek walked and junior Tyler Nelin singled to left to load the bases with no outs.

Driscoll then reached on an error by the shortstop, with Smith scoring from third to tie the game 1-1.  Junior Trevor Kelly put Mason in front to stay when he singled up the middle, driving in both Sturek and Nelin to give the Patriots a 3-1 advantage.  The first five batters of the game for Mason reached base.

With one out, freshman Jared DiCesare picked up his third RBI of the season, driving in Driscoll with a sacrifice fly to center to increase the lead to 4-1.

Mason put together two more big innings in the game against Big Red pitching.

In the fourth inning, Mason sent nine batters to the plate and scored three runs on three walks and two hits.  Sophomore Alejandro Aponte led off the inning with a walk, freshman John Callahan was hit by a pitch and Smith reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs for the second time in the game.

Sturek plated a run with groundout, with Aponte racing home from third to make it 5-1.  Nelin then hit his sixth double of the season, driving in a pair of runs to pad the Mason lead to 7-1. 

The Patriots added four more runs in the home half of the fifth inning with one swing of the bat.  After back-to-back singles by Smith and Sturek and a Nelin walk, Driscoll blasted a high drive over the right field fence for his first collegiate grand slam to make the score 11-1.

It was the second grand slam for Mason this season.  Sophomore Bailey Klein hit a grand slam in the Patriots' 21-1 win over VMI on Feb. 19 in Wilmington, N.C.

Driscoll went 1-for-4 with five RBI and scored two runs.  It's the second time this season that he has driven in five runs in game and he leads the team with 19 RBI.  Nelin reached base all five times at the plate, going 2-for-2 with three walks and extended his hit streak to nine games.  He drove in two runs and scored twice.

Smith finished 2-for-3 and crossed the plate three times.  He has scored nine runs over the last six games.  Kelly went 2-for-5 with two RBI and Sturek was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored.

Leadoff batters for both teams combined to reach base nine times.  Mason had at least one baserunner in every inning except the third, while Cornell had a runner on base in every inning except the sixth. 

The Patriots loaded the bases five times in the game and went 5-for-14 (.357) with runners in scoring position.  Cornell was 2-for-15 (.133) with runners in scoring position in the contest.

Marconi (2-1) allowed one run on five hits over 6.0 innings to earn the win.  He struck out five and walked three.  After allowing the run in the first inning on the RBI triple, Marconi scattered four singles the rest of the outing.

Senior Tyler Kardas tossed one scoreless inning and classmate Ryan Galvin closed out the game for Mason when he struck out the side in the ninth.

The final game of the series is Sunday at Spuhler Field with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.