BASEBALL at Saint Joseph's 

WHEN:  Friday, April 7 | 3 p.m.
              Saturday, April 8 | 2 p.m.
              Sunday, April 9 | 1 p.m.           
WHERE:  Smithson Field | Merion Station, Pa.
RECORDS: Mason (11-18, 2-1 A-10), Saint Joseph's (7-14, 1-2 A-10)
LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS

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FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason baseball team plays its second Atlantic 10 Conference series of the season, traveling to face Saint Joseph's for a three-game weekend series at Smithson Field in Merion Station, Pa. 

Mason (11-18, 2-1 A-10) sent eight batters the plate and scored four runs in the third, then held on for a 7-6 win over the Dukes at James Madison on Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Park in Harrisonburg, Va.

Sophomore Brady Acker hit his third home run of the season to give Mason a 1-0 lead and junior Tyler Nelin scored on a fielding error to make the score 2-0.

Sophomore Tim Quinn then collected his second double of the season, finding the gap in left-center to drive in two runs to double the Mason advantage to 4-0.

Mason starter Brock Hunter made his fifth start of the season and retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced in the game before James Madison tied the score 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth.

The Patriots reclaimed the lead for good in the fifth with one swing of the bat, when Greg Popatak II hit a solo home run to give Mason a 5-4 edge.  With two outs in the fifth, sophomore Ryan Tassone crossed the plate to extend the lead to 6-4.
 
After the Dukes made it a one-run game at 6-5, Popatak came to the plate with the bases loaded and knocked in the eventual game-winning run with a RBI ground out in the top of the sixth to put Mason up 7-5. 
 
James Madison scored a single run in the bottom of the seventh, but that's as close as the Dukes would get. 
 
Hunter allowed four runs, one earned, on five hits in 3.2 innings in the no-decision.  Junior Timothy Turner and senior Tyler Kardas each worked 1.2 innings.  Senior Ryan Galvin pitched a scoreless eighth and freshman Jared DiCesare closed the game in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season. 

Four different Mason pitchers have at least one save on the season.  Last season, Zach Mort recorded all eight of the Patriots saves during the year.

Quinn is hitting .333 in 12 games played.  He has at least one hit in seven of his last eight starts.  Junior Trevor Kelly has a .286 average and is third on the team in RBI (18) and tied for fourth on the team in hits (22).  He has at least one hit in four of his last six games.
 
Sophomore Michael Smith is batting .279 and leads the team in runs scored (23) and is second in hits (29).  Nelin has a .279 average and leads the team in hits (31), doubles (9), home runs (6) and RBI (22).
 
Acker has a hit in four of his last six games, while Popatak has a five-game hitting streak. Sophomore Alejandro Aponte has a four-game hitting streak and a hit in seven of the last eight.

The Patriots have hit 24 home runs over the first 29 games of the season.  Mason has connected for 13 home runs in the last 16 games.  Nine players have hit a least one round tripper for Mason this season.

Mason is 7-11 at home, 2-4 on the road and 2-3 in neutral site games this season.

SAINT JOSEPH'S SCOUTING REPORT:

Saint Joseph's went 31-23 overall last season and finished third in the Atlantic 10 with a record of 15-9.  The Hawks were 10-11 at home, 15-8 on the road and 6-4 in neutral site games during the 2016 campaign.

The Patriots and Hawks have met just seven times, with Saint Joseph's holding a 4-3 edge in the all-time series.  The two teams didn't meet last season.

The Patriots have dropped two of three against the Hawks in each of two series played at Spuhler Field.  Saint Joseph's took two of three March 27-29, 2015 in the last meeting, winning the first two games of the series, 9-0 and 4-3, before Mason claimed a 6-2 victory in game three.
 
The Hawks also won two of three May 9-11, 2014 in Fairfax, taking the first two contests 5-3 and 9-0, with Mason winning the series finale 2-1. 

Saint Joseph's (7-14, 1-2 CAA) began the 2017 season with 10 straight losses.  The Hawks were outscored by a combined score of 94-42 in those games.
 
Since March 10, the Hawks have won seven of their last 11 games, holding opponents to two or fewer runs six times. 
 
Junior Deon Stafford, Jr. is hitting .321 and is third on the team in home runs (3) and tied for third in hits (18).  Junior Dominic Cuoci has a .311 average, leads the Hawks in home runs (7), is tied for first on the team in hits (23) and leads the A-10 in slugging percentage (.662).  Senior Cal Jadacki is batting .303 and leads the team in doubles (6) and is tied for the lead in hits (23).

PROBABLE STARTERS:

Friday:  RHP Tyler Zombro (2-3, 2.23) vs. RHP Pat Vanderslice (2-2, 5.52)
Saturday:  RHP Zach Mort (1-3, 4.70) vs. TBA
Sunday:  LHP Brian Marconi (3-3, 5.45) vs. TBA
 
STRIKE ZONE: 

Last time out, Saint Joseph's posted a season-high 16 hits in an 11-1 win on Tuesday over Lafayette.  The victory was the 200th career win for head coach Fritz Hamburg, who is in his ninth season at the helm of the Hawks.  He is the first Saint Joseph's baseball coach to reach 200 wins.