GEORGE MASON SOFTBALL (16-30, 7-13 A-10) vs. ST. BONAVENTURE (3-32, 2-18 A-10)
WHEN: Sat.-Sun., April 27-28, 2024
WHERE: Fairfax, Va. | George Mason Softball Complex
SCHEDULE:
Saturday Game One: 1 p.m.
Saturday Game Two: 3:30 p.m.
Sunday: Noon
HISTORY: George Mason leads the series 22-3; last played on April 7-8, 2023 (Mason won the series 2-1)
GAME PROGRAM: CLICK HERE
LIVESTATS: CLICK HERE
WATCH (ESPN+):
NO STREAMING FOR SATURDAY DOUBLEHEADER
SUNDAY: CLICK HERE
FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason softball team (16-30, 7-13 A-10) is will host their final home series this weekend, as they will host conference opponent St. Bonaventure (3-32, 2-18 A-10) in a three-game weekend series at the George Mason Softball Complex.
Saturday's game will start one hour later, as it will be George Mason's Senior Day. Seniors
Zoe Vozick,
Sydney Bales,
Marlaina Bozek,
Carly Cooper and graduate students
Rachel Warrens and
Maddy Myers will be recognized for their time as Patriots in a pregame ceremony starting at 12:45 p.m.. It will also be Alumni Day, where former players will be recognized as well.
A LOOK AT THE PATRIOTS
Last weekend, George Mason faced then top-ranked Saint Louis in a weekend home series, where the Patriots won two of three games and handed the Billikens their first Atlantic 10 Conference series loss of the season. It was also George Mason's second consecutive weekend winning a conference series.
The two wins the Patriots took were by walk-off singles. The first walk-off single was on
Saturday, April 20, where freshman
Emily Lampela (.234 / .323 / .393) muscled a single to shallow right field with the bases loaded to win 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Patriots would lose the second game of the Saturday double header 4-1. In the final game of the series
the following day,
Rachel Warrens (.327 / .407 / .430) hit the game-winning single, also in the bottom of the seventh, to score Lampela.
Saturday, April 20, Highlights:
Sunday, April 21, Highlights
PATRIOT STAT LEADERS
BATTING
AVG: .338 (48-for-142) -
Marlaina Bozek
OBP: .407 -
Marlaina Bozek
SLG: .463 -
Rachel Warrens
R: 27 -
Rachel Warrens
H: 48 -
Marlaina Bozek &
Rachel Warrens
2B: 11 -
Rachel Warrens
3B: 3 -
Rachel Warrens
HR: 4 -
Logan Pickford &
Sydney Bales
RBI: 22 -
Maddy Myers
SB: 16 -
Rachel Warrens
BB: 18 -
Marlaina Bozek
PITCHING
ERA: 4.00 -
Kylie Wilkerson (Among starters)
IP: 122.2 -
Carly Cooper
K: 80 -
Carly Cooper
A-10 AWARDS THIS SEASON
Feb. 27 -
Kylie Wilkerson (
Rookie of the Week)
March 5 -
Marlaina Bozek (
Player of the Week)
April 2 -
Carly Cooper (
Pitcher of the Week)
NOTABLE STATS/STREAKS/AWARDS
Because of her consistent batting, this week's George Mason Athletics' "Patriot of the Week" is
Marlaina Bozek (.338 / .407 / .430). Bozek helped Mason win the weekend series over Saint Louis and led the Patriots last week in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. Slashing an impressive .529 / .579 / .588, she had a team-high nine hits along with one double, two runs scored, two runs batted in and two walks. The Washington, Pa., native recorded three multi-hit games, where she went 3-for-3 with a double against George Washington in Game One, 3-for-4 with an RBI against Saint Louis in Game One and 2-for-3 with another RBI in Game Two of the Saint Louis series. On the fielding side, the veteran second baseman had 10 putouts, five assists and zero errors for a 1.000 fielding percentage.
Freshman starting pitcher
Kylie Wilkerson (5-7, 4.00 ERA, 1 SV) pitched a complete game win to seal Mason's series victory over the Saint Louis Billikens on Sunday, April 21. After giving up a two-run single in the top of the third, the Warrenton, Va., native only allowed one more hit throughout the rest of the game. Wilkerson now has five wins in her rookie campaign, the most among Mason freshman and is in the top five among all freshman pitchers in wins in the Atlantic 10.
The Patriot defense has turned 31 double plays this season, which not only leads the Atlantic 10 Conference, but also outnumbers second place Loyola Chicago and third place UMass combined, who both have turned 14 and 13, respectively.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
ST. BONAVENTURE (3-32, 2-18 A-10)
Chosen to finish tenth out of ten in the conference in this year's Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll, the Bonnies have won three games in total and are currently last in the conference standings with a 2-18 conference record. Mason, on the other hand, is in ninth with a 7-13 record.
St. Bonaventure has yet to win a conference series this season, as they have either been swept (UMass, Saint Louis, Loyola Chicago, Dayton), or lost two of three (Rhode Island, Fordham).
The Bonnies are last in the conference in batting average (.187), runs scored (82), hits (147), doubles (30), triples (2) home runs (7) and RBI (76). They are the only school in the A-10 not to have crossed the century mark in RBI yet, with Rhode Island in ninth with 113.
Freshman utility player Kymora Wang (.277 / .333 / .426) is the team's most productive player at the plate. Wang leads the team in batting average, hits (26), doubles (7) and triples (2), as well as tied for the lead in RBI (13) with graduate student designated player Olivia Moon (.177 / .270 / .323). Moon is also tied for the team lead in home runs with two, alongside freshman pitcher/utility player Kylie Bickert (.200 / .222 . / .480).
On the pitching side, the Bonnies have given up the most runs and earned runs, posting 320 and 260, respectively. They also have the highest ERA in the conference with 9.02.
The Bonnies' primary pitcher is senior Emily Phelan (1-18, 7.83 ERA), who has one win and leads the staff in complete games (2), strikeouts (38) and innings pitched (81.1). The second-most used pitcher is the aforementioned Bickert (1-6, 9.12 ERA), who has one complete game and 32 strikeouts in 48.1 innings pitched.
The third Bonnie in the pitching staff is senior Tori McGraw (0-4, 11.97 ERA), who has 18 strikeouts on 35.2 innings pitched. The final pitcher in the staff is freshman Kendall Stull (1-4, 6.41 ERA) who has the team's other win, as well as a complete game and 12 strikeouts on 31.2 innings pitched.
HISTORY WITH THE BONNIES
George Mason has matched up with St. Bonaventure 25 times, with the Patriots having a commanding 22-3 series edge over the Bonnies. Their first meeting was
April 11, 2015, where the Patriots lost 11-3.
The last time the two schools met in the regular season was last season on
April 7-8, where the Patriots won two of three at St. Bonaventure. This will be the first time the Bonnies will be in Fairfax since
March 13-14, 2021, when the Patriots swept St. Bonaventure in a four-game weekend series.
TEAM STAT COMPARISONS: Mason (46 games played) | St. Bonaventure (35 games played)
BATTING
AVG: .246 | .187
OBP: .318 | .297
SLG: .345 | .257
R: 161 | 82
RBI: 139 | 76
H: 290 | 147
2B: 49 | 30
3B: 7 | 2
HR: 18 | 7
BB: 111 | 111
PITCHING
ERA: 4.06 | 9.02
K: 167 | 100
BB: 150 | 153
R: 219 | 320
ER: 176 | 260
H: 357 | 369
2B: 50 | 75
3B: 13 | 13
HR: 33 | 24
FIELDING
FLD: .961 | .929
PO: 909 | 605
A: 338 | 221
E: 56 | 63
UP NEXT
George Mason will play their final series of the regular season next weekend, as they will head up to Kingston, R.I., to play Rhode Island in a three-game series on May 4-5.
Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon, with the second game starting at 2:30 p.m. Sunday's finale is slated for a noon start time as well.
