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KINGSTON, R.I. – The Patriots dropped the first game of their Atlantic 10 series at Rhode Island, 10-5, on Friday afternoon at Bill Beck Field in Kingston, R.I.

George Mason (9-10) took the lead against Rhode Island (5-14) junior starter Joe Sabbathin the first inning.  Freshman Julius Bagnerise led off the game with third double of the season, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error to put the Patriots in front, 1-0.

The Rams responded in the bottom of the inning against Patriots senior starter Logan Rumberg.  After back-to-back one-out singles, Rams sophomore first baseman Ryan Thompson doubled to deep right field to plate a pair of runs.  The Rams left the bases loaded in the inning.

With one out in the top of the fourth, sophomore left fielder Lucas Alberti walked and scored when graduate student center fielder Luciano Terilli doubled to right field to even the score, 2-2.

In the fifth, senior right fielder Drew Canody was hit by a pitch to start the inning, went to second on a failed pickoff attempt and moved to third on a groundout.  Junior first baseman Jake Butler then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to vault the Patriots ahead, 3-2.  Senior shortstop Owen Clyne ripped his third triple of the season to right field to keep the line moving.  Alberti drew a walk for the second straight at-bat and Terilli followed with a single to shallow right field, with Clyne racing home to make it 4-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Rhode Island sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on six hits against Rumberg, redshirt-sophomore Brant Ertel and redshirt-junior Owen Stewart to take a 9-4 lead.  Rams junior center fielder Ryan Hanschel had the big hit in the inning with a three-run home run.

Rhode Island added a run in the seventh with a double, error and RBI-groundout against graduate student Tyson Willis to make the score 10-4.

In the ninth, junior catcher Vincent Cowdrey led off with a triple and scored on a RBI-single by Canody for the final run of the game.

For the Patriots, Rumberg allowed four runs on five hits in 5.0 innings.  Ertel (1-1) gave up two runs on one hit in the fifth and took the loss.  Stewart surrendered three runs on four hits in the fifth.  Willis gave up a run on a hit in 2.0 innings.

Terilli went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.  Canody was 1-for-3 with one RBI and scored a run.  Butler finished 1-for-4 and drove in a run.

For the Rams, Sabbath (1-2) allowed four runs on four hits in 5.0 innings and earned the win.  Freshman Sam Houchens gave up one run of three hits over the final 4.0 innings.

The Patriots and Rams play the middle game of the series on Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at Bill Beck Field in Kingston, R.I.