MERION STATION, Pa. – The George Mason baseball team allowed five runs in the first two innings to Saint Joseph's, dropping the middle game of the series to the Hawks 5-2 on Saturday afternoon at Smithson Field.

Mason (12-19, 3-2 A-10) fell behind in the first inning when the Hawks sent eight batters to the plate and scored three runs on four hits against starter Zach Mort.  After a leadoff walk and a single, senior Brian Lau drove in a run with a double to put the Hawks in front 1-0.

Senior Cal Jadacki followed with a single up the middle, with two more runs crossing the plate to make the score 3-0. 

Saint Joseph's (8-15, 2-3 A-10) extended the advantage in the home half of the second.  Senior Taylor Boyd led off the inning with a single and with two outs, sophomore Charlie Concannon hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run homer over the right field fence to give the Hawks a 5-0 lead.

The Patriots got on the scoreboard in the top of the third against Hawks starter Justin Aungst.

Sophomore Alejandro Aponte and junior Frank Sturek each walked to start the inning and sophomore Brady Acker bunted his way on to load the bases with no outs.  Aponte scored when junior Michael Smith grounded into a double play to make it a 5-1 game.

Saint Joseph's made the call to the bullpen and summoned sophomore left-hander Lucas Rollins.  After allowing a leadoff single to junior Trevor Kelly in the fourth, Rollins held Mason in check by retiring the next 12 batters that he faced.

The Patriots threatened in the eighth when Sturek and Acker began the frame with back-to-back singles, but Rollins wiggled out of the jam with a groundout and two strikeouts to end the inning.

With one out in the ninth, sophomore Tim Quinn singled to left field and advanced to second on a fielding error by the left fielder and sophomore Ryan Tassone followed with a single to put runners on the corners.

Aponte drove in his seventh run of the season with a sacrifice fly, with Quinn cruising home from third to make it 5-2, but that would be the final score.

Mort (1-4) allowed five runs on 11 hits over 5.0 innings in his sixth start of the season and suffered the loss.  He struck out six and walked two.  Junior Timothy Turner tossed a scoreless inning and classmate Ryan Ricci allowed just one hit over the final two innings of the game.

Four Mason relievers have allowed just two singles over 5.0 innings of work in the first two games of the series against Saint Joseph's.

Acker and Kelly each went 2-for-4 with two singles.  Aponte drove in a run and scored a run.  Quinn was 1-for-4 with a run scored.  All seven Mason hits in the game were singles. 

Eight players in the starting lineup for Saint Joseph's had at least one hit in the game.  Both teams combined to go 4-for-22 with runners in scoring position.

The series finale is Sunday at Smithson Field with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.