Box Score
Box score

FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason baseball team won its third straight game, defeating Towson 14-7 on Wednesday at Spuhler Field.  With the win, head coach Bill Brown reached 1,000 career victories.

Mason (3-8) sent eight batters to the plate and scored three runs on four hits to take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first against Towson (2-8) starter Josh Seils.  Mason senior Trevor Kelly and junior Bailey Klein each drove in a run with a double in the inning, while graduate student Frank Sturek knocked in a run with a single.

"I'm seeing the ball pretty well and I think it's a testament to what we do as a team," Klein said.  "In batting practice we've made a lot of big adjustments and I think that's really helped us turn it around.  We're scoring a lot of runs and making a lot of plays."

The Patriots took advantage of three walks and scored three runs on just one hit in the home half of the second to make the score 6-0.  Kelly drove his second run in as many innings with a single.

Mason starter Brian Marconi didn't allow a hit in three innings of work before turning the game over to the bullpen.

The Tigers sent eight batters to the plate in the fourth inning and scored three runs against freshman James Price to cut the Patriots lead in half at 6-3. 

The Patriots responded in the bottom of the inning when sophomore John Callahan drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 7-3.

"I felt like we really played well today," Brown said.  "I was really excited about the way we performed at the plate.  We were aggressive and put good swings on the baseball."

Towson drew closer in the sixth when sophomore Noah Cabrera singled through the right side to drive in a pair of runs to make it a 7-5 game.

Mason again had an answer in the bottom of the inning, scoring four runs for an 11-5 lead.

Towson added two runs in the seventh when junior Craig Alleyne hit a two-run home run to trim the Patriots lead to 11-7, but that's as close as the Tigers would get.

In the bottom of the seventh, Mason senior Timothy Turner, classmate Alejandro Aponte and Callahan each drove in a run to make the score 14-7.

Brown, in his 37th year as head coach of the Patriots, is one of only 16 active coaches in Division I baseball with at least 1,000 victories.

"I'm happy that it happened obviously," said Brown of the milestone win.  "Just sitting and talking with the guys after the game and reflecting.  It's never about me.  It's always about all the players who have played in the program from day one back in the fall of 1981 when we started to these guys now.  I've been blessed that I have had great assistant coaches for 37 years and I can't thank them enough for what they've done for me.  It's just a number and that's cool.  As I told the guys, I'm looking forward to 1,001 because we want to win baseball games."

Marconi (1-0) tossed three innings of no-hit ball to earn his first win of the season.  Price allowed five runs on five hits over 3.0 innings.  Freshman Austin Cabone surrendered two runs on three hits in one inning of work, while freshman Daniel Brooks and senior Garett Driscoll each tossed one scoreless inning.

Klein started behind the plate and went 4-for-5 with a RBI and two runs scored.  Sturek finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored.  Turner was 1-for-3 with two RBI and scored two runs, while Kelly, Callahan and Aponte each drove in a pair of runs.

Eight players collected at least one hit for the Patriots, with five players recording a multi-hit game.  Nine different players scored at least one run and seven different players drove in at least one run for Mason in the game.

The Patriots are back in action when they face Villanova on Friday in Kissimmee, Fla.  The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.