FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason baseball team fell behind in the first inning against Marist and dropped the final game of the series to the Red Foxes 4-1 on Sunday at Spuhler Field.

Mason (4-7) starter Zach Mort allowed a single to Red Foxes junior Andrew Rouse to lead off the game and sophomore Tyler Kapuscinski followed with a single to center.  Both baserunners advanced to second and third on a throw by the Patriots to try and get the lead runner. 

Marist (6-4) took a 1-0 lead when Rouse raced home from third on a wild pitch and with two outs in the inning, junior Greg Kocinski drove in a run with a groundout to make the score 2-0.

The Patriots scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the first.  Junior Michael Smith was hit by a pitch to start the inning and classmate Tyler Nelin followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs.  Freshman Logan Driscoll then drove in Smith from third with a ground out to the pitcher to make it a one-run game at 2-1.

Marist took advantage of two Mason errors in both the sixth and the eighth innings to add a single run in each frame to increase the lead to 4-1.

Mort (1-1) allowed only two earned runs and six singles over 8.0 innings in the loss.  He threw 104 pitches in the game and threw a first-pitch strike to 24 of the 33 batters he faced. 

Mort tossed eight strong innings and his outing is the longest by a Mason starting pitcher through the first 11 games of the season.  Junior Saul Aguilera pitched a scoreless ninth for the Patriots.

"Zach was fantastic today," Mason head coach Bill Brown said.  "Unfortunately we just didn't give him any help.  His pitch count was in the neighborhood where we thought about pulling him out, but he was doing it so easy.  He was outstanding today, there's no question about it."

Marist junior Scott Boches (2-0) allowed one run on five hits over 6.2 innings to earn the win, while senior Sean Keenan worked 1.2 scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the season.

Sophomore Greg Popatak II went 2-for-4 and his double was the only extra-base hit in the game.  Smith was 1-for-1 with two walks, reached base four times and scored a run from the leadoff spot, while sophomore Tim Quinn and Nelin each finished 1-for-4.

Driscoll drove in the only run of the game for Mason and is second on the team with 10 RBI.

"We need to turn around quickly and Radford will be a good club," Brown said.  "We need to get some things straightened out, so we'll work on that between now and Tuesday."

Mason is back on the diamond for a two-game series against Radford Tuesday and Wednesday.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:30 each day.