• URI defeats Mason 6-4 in extra innings.
• RS-freshman Adriana Erickson goes deep again, along with sophomore Madison Aker notching two hits.
• Patriots return to action Wednesday at Virginia prior to hosting Saint Louis next weekend.

 
FINAL: Rhode Island 6, Mason 4 (11 innings)
Winning Pitcher: Julia Waraksy (2-0) – Losing Pitcher: Haellie Gordon (6-6)
 
FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason had the opportunity to take two out of three in its first Atlantic 10 weekend of the 2018 season. Despite a home run from Adriana Erickson and two hits from Madison Aker, the Patriots fell to Rhode Island 6-4 after 11 innings played.
 
Erickson homered for the second consecutive game to push her extra base hit count to four on the season. The Woodgrove, Va. native has hit safely in three straight games and increased her slash line to a respectable .273/.375/.418.
 
Sophomore Bekah Ansbro was tabbed the starting pitcher and threw 5.2 innings of one-run softball. Ansbro added three punch-outs to increase her weekend total to 12 over 11.2 innings pitched – good for a K/7 of 1.07.
 
Aker posted two hits to tie her career high, the ninth time in her career she's had a multi-hit performance. Aker also reached base after getting hit by a pitch, marking the first time this season she's reached base three times in a game.
 
Eight of the Patriots' starting nine got a hit on Sunday afternoon, including senior Brooke Sullivan who notched her eighth double of the year to set a new career high. At .329, Sullivan is now four points behind the team lead in batting average and extended her team-leading .467 on-base percentage with her double and two walks.
 
"In order to learn how to win, you have to figure out how to get the last six outs of the ballgame," head coach Joe Verbanic said. "Those last six outs are the game within the game. Somebody is always going to come back at you at the end of the ballgame because nobody wants to go down easy. We talk about it all the time, you have to learn how to win. It doesn't come easy."
 
The two teams traded runs in the opening frame to quickly put an end to a potential scoreless game. Aker initiated the Patriots' first rally in the bottom of the second with a single over the shortstop's head. She followed that up by stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error to put a potential run 60 feet away. Two batters later, Liz Seymour executed a safety squeeze to bring Aker home and put Mason in front. Jess Curbeira picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice to extend the Green and Gold lead to 3-1 and put them ahead and in charge.
 
The Patriots got Ansbro more run support with Erickson's blast over the left field fence. Both her home runs this season have come as a solo shot and she's the first Patriot this season to homer in back-to-back contests.
 
Ansbro had her first high-stress inning in the top of the sixth, but managed to get two outs before handing the ball to Haellie Gordon. Just like Verbanic's Sunday starter, Gordon made an appearance in all three games this weekend and got the one hitter she faced in the top of the sixth to line out to right to end the inning.
 
However, Gordon was unable to keep the Rams off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh. Rhode Island tied it up in the top of the seventh with the timely hit coming as a two-RBI double by Kylie Shivery. At 4-4, the score stayed that way for another three innings.
 
Shivlery delivered for the Rams again in the top of the 11^th. Her triple drove in two unearned runs to put the Rams up 6-4. The Patriots' got the leadoff runner on in the bottom half of the 11^th, but the Rams kept them off the scoreboard and left Fairfax with a 6-4 extra innings victory on Sunday afternoon.
 
NEXT ON THE DIAMOND
 
Mason will briefly hit the road in three days for a mid-week game against Virginia. First pitch for that contest in Charlottesville is scheduled for 6 p.m. After the Wednesday trip, Mason will continue A-10 play next weekend against Saint Louis, this time playing a doubleheader Friday night and one game Saturday to accommodate for the Easter holiday.