Box Score FAIRFAX, Va. – Squandered opportunities and surrendering a pair of late-inning, two-out hits cost the George Mason baseball team in a midweek loss.
The Patriots suffered a 4-2 loss to William & Mary on Wednesday at Spuhler Field. Mason (18-24) rallied from two runs to tie the game in the sixth but the Patriots allowed runs with two outs in the eighth and ninth innings. The Patriots also left 12 runners on despite 13 hits but failed to notch an extra-base hit.
William & Mary (23-20) broke through first in the third inning with a pair of runs. The Tribe's Zach Pearson scored on a bases loaded walk with one out from Mason starting pitcher
Bryce Nightengale. The next batter, Ryder Miconi, grounded into a fielder's choice at second that drove in Owen Socher.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Patriots cut into the lead on a two-out single by
Logan Driscoll that scored
Frank Sturek. Mason evened the score in the next frame with another two-out single by
Michael Smith to drive in
John Callahan. But Patriots left two runners on base in both innings and had five frames where they stranded two base runners.
The Tribe took advantage. Mason's
Tyler Kardas allowed a leadoff walk in the eighth. After he induced a pair of groundouts, Kardas nearly got out of the jam. But he allowed a two-out to left center field for the go-ahead run. William & Mary tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on a hard-hit, two-out single to first base by Socher.
The Patriots used seven pitchers, who allowed just six hits. Nightengale started the game and allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in three innings of work.
Jakob Ryan relieved him and pitched two scoreless innings.
Tyler Tobin and Tim Turner followed with an inning apiece. Kardas (1-1) took the loss, allowing a run, a hit and a walk in one inning.
Jared DiCesare (one run allowed) and
Ryan Galvin finished out the game.
Offensively, all nine batters in the lineup recorded a hit for the Patriots. Sturek went 3-for-3 with three singles out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup. Driscoll and
Alejandro Aponte each had two hits.
Mason hits the road to play Atlantic 10 foe Richmond in a three-game series that begins at 3 p.m. on Friday in Richmond, Va.
