BASEBALL vs. St. Bonaventure

WHEN:  Friday, April 21 | 12:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (Doubleheader)
              Saturday, April 22 | 12:00 p.m.                          
WHERE:  Spuhler Field | Fairfax, Va.
RECORDS: Mason (17-21, 6-3 A-10), St. Bonaventure (16-14, 7-5 A-10)
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason baseball team returns home after four straight road games, facing St. Bonaventure in a three-game Atlantic 10 series beginning with a doubleheader on Friday with the first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m. at Spuhler Field.

Mason (17-20, 6-3 A-10) enters the weekend in third place in the conference, trailing only VCU (10-2 A-10) and Rhode Island (8-3 A-10). 

The Patriots had their season-high five-game winning streak halted with an 11-2 loss at Navy on Wednesday at Max Bishop Stadium in Annapolis, Md.

The Patriots had scored 52 runs on 64 hits during their five-game winning streak, collecting at least 10 hits in all five games while committing only one error.

Against Navy, sophomore Greg Popatak II went 2-for-4 with a single and hit his ninth double of the season, while junior Tyler Nelin finished 2-for-4 and scored a run.  Sophomore Alejandro Aponte and junior Michael Smith each went 1-for-4 and drove in a run.  The Patriots finished with nine hits, eight singles and a double.

Last weekend, Mason swept a three-game series at Dayton with a 7-1 win in game one before claiming both games of a doubleheader against the Flyers, 8-6 and 10-5.  It was the first three-game sweep for the Patriots over a conference opponent since joining the Atlantic 10.

Freshman Logan Driscoll is hitting .333 and is third on the team in RBI (22) and tied for fifth in hits (29).  Sophomore Tim Quinn is batting .317 and has 20 hits in 21 games played.

Nelin has a .298 average and leads the team in hits (42), doubles (11), home runs (8) and RBI (33).  He was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Monday after batting .471 (8-for-17) with two home runs including a grand slam, 11 RBI and six runs scored over five games. 

Junior Trevor Kelly is hitting .292 and is second on the team in home runs (5) and RBI (32) and ranks third in hits (33), while Smith has a .283 average and leads the team in runs scored (35) and is second on the squad in hits (39).

Smith leads the Atlantic 10 in runs scored (35), Nelin is third in the conference in RBI (33) and total bases (78) and Kelly is tied for fourth in the A-10 in RBI (32).

Mason has hit six home runs over the last six games, including two grand slams.  Ten players have hit at least one home run for the Patriots so far this season.

The Patriots have played just one conference series at home this season, winning two of three games against Fordham March 24-26.

The Patriots and Bonnies have met six times, with each team winning three games.

Last season, St. Bonaventure won two of three games against Mason May 6-8, 2016 at Fred Handler Park in Olean, N.Y.  The Bonnies won the first game of the series 3-0 and the finale 16-3.  The Patriots erased a two-run deficit to earn a 4-3 victory in the middle game.

The two teams have met only once at Spuhler Field, with Mason taking two of three in the series April 11-13, 2014.  The Patriots won the first game 8-3, fell in the middle game 8-6 in 11 innings in a game that featured four lead changes and Mason earned a 6-1 victory in game three.   

ST. BONAVENTURE SCOUTING REPORT:

St Bonaventure is 16-14 overall and is currently in fifth place in the Atlantic 10 with a record of 7-5 against conference opponents.  The Bonnies have a record of 6-2 at home, 5-7 on the road and 5-5 in neutral site games this season.

The Bonnies went 7-10 in their first 17 games of the season, but have won nine of the last 13 contests including a season-high five-game winning streak April 1-8.  The Bonnies have held opponents to four runs or less in six of their last nine wins.

Last time out, St. Bonaventure swept a doubleheader against Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa.  The Bonnies won the first game 5-4 in eight innings and took the nightcap over the Bison 7-4 in six innings.

St. Bonaventure is 2-4 on the road and 5-1 at home this season against Atlantic 10 opponents.  The Bonnies dropped two of three games at Davidson and at Saint Louis, scoring four or fewer runs in each of their four losses on the road against A-10 foes.

The Bonnies swept a three-game series from Dayton and won two of three against Rhode Island at Fred Handler Park in Olean, N.Y.

Junior Cole Peterson leads the Bonnies in average (.350), hits (42) and runs scored (31).  Senior Jared Baldinelli is batting .333 and is tied for second on the team in hits (33). 

Senior T.J. Baker is hitting .301 and is tied for the team lead in home runs (4) and is second in RBI (20), while junior David Vaccaro has a .289 average and leads the Bonnies in RBI (26) and is tied for the team lead in home runs (4).

PROBABLE STARTERS:

Game One:  RHP Tyler Zombro (4-3, 1.85) vs. RHP Aaron Phillips (5-0, 3.42)
Game Two:  LHP Brian Marconi (3-4, 6.25) vs. RHP Casey Vincent (2-3, 4.79)
Game Three:  RHP Zach Mort (2-4, 5.55) vs. RHP Brandon Schlimm (0-3, 7.11)
 
STRIKE ZONE: 

St. Bonaventure and Maine played an 18-inning game on March 5 at the Delray Invitational in Delray Beach, Fla., with the Black Bears recording a 5-4 win over the Bonnies.

The longest game played in NCAA history was a 25-inning marathon in the 2009 Austin Regional of the NCAA Tournament.  Texas defeated Boston College 3-2 on May 30, 2009 in a game that took seven hours and three minutes to complete. 

The Longhorns and Eagles combined to set NCAA records with 192 plate appearances, 171 at-bats and 42 strikeouts.