• Senior outfielder Brady Acker went 2-for-4 with his seventh home run of the season.
• Junior catcher Logan Driscoll was 1-for-3 with his ninth home run of the season.
• Sophomore second baseman Daniel Brooks finished 1-for-3 and scored a run.

Box score (PDF)

FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason baseball team dropped the first game of its three-game series against VCU, 9-4, on Thursday afternoon at Spuhler Field in Fairfax, Va.

The Patriots (19-33, 5-17 A-10) fell behind VCU (37-17, 17-5 A-10) when the Rams plated a run in the second inning against Mason freshman starter Patrick Halligan.

VCU junior first baseman Steven Carpenter hit a two-out solo home run to put the Rams in front 1-0.

In the top of the third inning, VCU junior third baseman drove in a run with a RBI-single and sophomore designated hitter Liam Hibbits delivered a two-out, two-run single to increase the lead to 4-0.

The Patriots responded in the bottom of the third against VCU junior starter Connor Gillispie.

Sophomore second baseman Daniel Brooks led off the inning with an infield single.  With one out, junior catcher Logan Driscoll belted his ninth home run of the season, a two-run blast over the left field fence to make it a 4-2 game.

After a leadoff walk in the top of the fourth, VCU sophomore right fielder Jack Schroeder's one-out RBI double off the left field wall increased the lead to 5-2.

The Rams broke the game open in the top of the sixth inning.  After a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases, junior third baseman Brett Norwood hit a grand slam off of Mason freshman reliever Nick Zegna to make the score 9-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, Driscoll led off with a walk on four pitches and senior outfielder Brady Acker followed with his seventh home run of the season to trim the Rams advantage to 9-4, but Mason would get no closer.

Halligan (4-5) allowed five runs on five hits in 3.2 innings and took the loss.  Zegna surrendered four runs on six hits in 2.0 innings, while sophomore James Price tossed 3.1 scoreless innings for the Patriots.

Gillispie (5-2) allowed four runs on five hits and struck out seven over 6.0 innings to earn the win.  Junior reliever Sam Ryan scattered two hits over 3.0 scoreless innings to pick up his seventh save of the season.

Acker went 2-for-4 and hit his seventh home run of the season, while Driscoll was 1-for-3 and hit his ninth round tripper of the year.

The Patriots and Rams play game two of the series on Friday with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. at Spuhler Field.