May 23, 2007

Box Score

Wilmington, N.C. - The Delaware Blue Hens scored seven times in the fourth inning and Mason batters were unable to keep pace against Delaware starter Billy Harris as the second-seeded Blue Hens beat fifth-seeded Mason 13-3 in the opening round of the double-elimination six-team CAA Baseball Tournament. It was the third time in the past four years the two teams have faced in the opening round of the tournament and Delaware has won two of those three games.

Harris, a second-team All-CAA selection, struck out 11 Mason batters in eight innings of work. Mason starter J.J. Pannell, also a second-team All-CAA selection, was not as successful. Pannell gave up eight runs on nine hits and three walks in four innings while striking out just one.

The Blue Hens used back-to-back doubles in the first from Brandon Menchaca and Alex Buchholz to take a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Delaware was finally able to add to its lead and the Blue Hens did so in a big way. Bryan Hagerich led off the inning with a solo homer, his 17th of the year. Adam Tsakonas and Bill Merkler followed with singles and Ryan Engelhardt was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kyle Davis walked to make it 3-0 and Ryan Jablonski hit a ball off the wall in rightfield for an RBI single. A passed ball by catcher Jason Bour brought Englehardt home to make it 5-0 and Menchaca's single made it 7-0. After a walk to Buchholz, Hagerich had his second hit of the inning, a single to plate Menchaca.

In the fifth, Mason finally snapped a scoreless streak against Delaware pitching that had reached 19 and one-third innings. Spencer Wiggins was hit by a pitch with one out and Chris Fournier followed with a home run to center on a 3-2 pitch, his 13th homer of the season. It was just a drop in the bucket though, as the lead still remained at six runs.

In the sixth, Chris Henderson reached on an error to lead off the inning, Chris Romanow was hit by a pitch and Dan Palumbo singled to load the bases. Henderson scored on a Brent Weiss fielder's choice to make it 8-3.

In the bottom of the inning, Delaware got a pair of runs back on solo home runs. Jablonski led off the inning with a shot to right and Buchholz did the same with one out. Hagerich followed with a walk, Tsakonas singled and Merkler made it 11-3 with a single to bring home Hagerich. In the seventh, Engelhardt doubled to lead off the inning and Jablonski homered again, this time to center to make it 13-3.

The Patriots (26-26) will play on Thursday at Noon against sixth-seeded Georgia State in an elimination game. The Panthers lost their opener to Old Dominion on Wednesday, 5-2 and the team that loses Thursday's game will be the first one eliminated from the 2007 CAA Tournament. Mason has never faced Georgia State in the CAA Tournament. The Patriots took two of three from the Panthers in the regular season.