JMU BASEBALL FALLS AT GEORGE MASON 11-6

Saturday, March 27

Fairfax, Va,

2:00 PM

James Madison University

10-11, 3-2

George Mason

12-6, 1-1

James Madison

George Mason

3/27/2010 9:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va., March 27, 2010 - George Mason took the lead with a five-run second inning and tacked on five more in the middle innings to defeat James Madison 11-6 in the second game of a Colonial Athletic Association baseball series on Saturday afternoon at Spuhler Field.

JMU had its four-game winning streak snapped with the loss and fell to 10-11 on the season, 3-2 in the CAA. GMU improved to 12-6 overall and 1-1 in the league.

Madison scored twice each in the first and second innings and led 4-1 until Mason plated five runs in the second inning. RBI singles by first baseman Dan Palumbo, center fielder Jeremy Haas, and second baseman Tison Brig tied the score. The Patriots added runs on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.

From there, the Patriots continued to tack on one in the fourth, one in the fifth, and three in the sixth while holding the Dukes to just a pair of unearned runs in the fifth. JMU stranded nine runners on base for the game.

"Today we just shot ourselves in the foot," commented head coach Spanky McFarland. "The big inning started out with an out, then an error, then a dropped ball in the outfield, so it could have ended right there. But after that, they had a couple of flairs and next thing you know, it's 6-4. Then we had opportunities to keep them from scoring and twice we only got one out on double-play balls. The last one led to three runs in the sixth. If we get that, it's 8-6 and with our offense, who knows. If you look at the box score, a couple of errors doesn't look horrible, but it's the other outs that we didn't get that's been killing us all year. We have to get better defensively. I can't say that they drove the ball on us today, but they put it in play and made some things happen. I thought D.J. Brown pitched better than he did last week, so that was a plus."

Ryan Brecko earned the victory for GMU after allowing six runs, four earned, on five hits in five innings to improve to 2-0. Anthony Montefusco picked up his first save with 3 2/3 shutout innings allowing just one hit.

Freshman D.J. Brown (Locust Grove, Va./Orange County) took the loss for JMU to fall to 1-2. He allowed 10 of the 11 runs, including eight earned, on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Junior third baseman McKinnon Langston (Tallahassee, Fla./North Florida Christian) had a pair of hits for JMU with a run scored. Senior left fielder Matt Browning (Mystic, Conn./Fitch) had a hit, run, RBI, and a pair of walks.

Right fielder Shane Davis drove in three runs for Mason on a pair of hits, including a solo home run. Tison went 3-for-4 with a walk and a pair of RBIs. Palumbo and Haas also each had a pair of hits with Palumbo scoring three times.

In the first inning, redshirt junior first baseman Trevor Knight (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's-Belfield) stretched an ordinary single to a double with heads-up running. A hit batter of junior shortstop David Herbek (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) and a walk by redshirt senior right fielder Matt Townsend (Lorton, Va./Hayfield) , his sixth in a span of eight plate appearances, loaded the bases with two outs. Sophomore designated hitter Jake Lowery (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) then stroked a two-run single to center to stake the Dukes to a 2-0 lead.

Mason put its first two batters on in the first on a double off the top of the wall by Haas and a walk by Tison. With one out, both runners advanced on a double steal and with two outs, Haas scored on a