FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason baseball team rallied twice from a three-run deficit in the series finale against Fordham, but fell to the Rams 6-5 at Spuhler Field on Sunday afternoon.

Mason (9-14, 2-1 A-10) fell behind in the top of the second when Fordham (8-11, 1-2 A-10) scored three runs on four hits against starter Bryce Nightengale. 

Senior Mark Donadio led off the inning with a single and classmate Jason Lundy followed with a double to right field to put runners on second and third.  Freshman Jake Baker drove in two runs with a single up the middle to give the Rams a 2-0 lead.  Baker then advanced to second on a balk and scored on a single to make the score 3-0.

The Patriots cut into the lead in the bottom of the third against Rams starter Reiss Knehr.  Sophomore Brady Acker drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a ground out and scored on a single by junior Tyler Nelin to make it a 3-1 game. 

With two outs in the top of the fourth, the Rams padded the lead when Baker walked, stole second and scored on a single to increase the advantage to 4-1.

Mason sent nine batters to the plate in the home half of the fourth and scored three runs on two hits to even the score.

Junior Garett Driscoll was hit by a pitch to start the inning.  With one out, sophomore Alejandro Aponte doubled to the wall in right field to put runners on second and third.  After Acker walked for the second time in the game to load the bases, sophomore Michael Smith delivered a two-run single to cut the Rams lead to 4-3.

Nelin was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for the second time in the inning and junior Trevor Kelly forced in a run with a walk to tie the score 4-4.

Mason had three hits in the first four innings and one over the final five.

Fordham took the lead in the seventh.  After a leadoff single, the Rams were able to score the go-ahead run with a two-out RBI single against Mason junior Timothy Turner to take a 5-4 lead.  Fordham added an insurance run in the ninth against freshmen Jared DiCesare to extend the advantage to 6-4.

Acker began the bottom of the ninth with a double to left field.  After moving to third on a ground out, Acker scored on a sacrifice fly by junior Frank Sturek to cut the lead to 6-5, but the Patriots rally would fall short.

Nightengale allowed four runs on five hits in 5.0 innings in the no-decision.  Turner (0-1) surrendered one run on three hits in 1.2 innings.  Senior Ryan Galvin allowed one hit in 1.1 innings of work.

Knehr allowed four runs on three hits in 4.0 innings for the Rams.  Freshman Alvin Melendez (1-0) entered the game in the fifth and retired the first 10 batters he faced.  He gave up a run on one hit over 5.0 innings to earn his first collegiate win.

Acker went 1-for-2 with a double and scored three of Mason's five runs.  Smith was 1-for-5 and drove in two runs.  Kelly walked three times and drove in his 15th run of the season.  Nelin and Sturek each drove in a run.

The Patriots are back on the diamond on Tuesday, March 28 at UMBC with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.