May 26, 2004

Box Score

Wilmington, N.C. - George Mason scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth but couldn't come up with any dramatics in extra innings as the top-seeded Patriots lost to sixth-seeded Delaware,8-5 in 10 innings in the opening round of the Colonial Athletic Association Baseball Tournament in Wilmington, N.C. The Patriots will play the loser of Wednesday night's UNC Wilmington-Old Dominion game in an elimination game on Thursday at Noon.

Matt Cooksey hit a bases loaded single to score a pair of runs and Chris Looze broke the school's single-season record for RBI with a game-tying two-run double to tie the score at 5-5. It gave Looze 81 RBI on the season, breaking Kevin Burke's record set in 1985. Jeff Palumbo scored on the play, tying Eddie Jordan's school record for runs in a career with 201. Palumbo already holds the school's career record for hits, at-bats, games played and games started, as well as the single-season record for runs.

Despite the late-inning heroics, the Patriots (37-16) were unable to steal the win. Todd Davison led off the tenth with a single off of reliever Josh Morrison (7-4). After advancing to second on a ground out by Steve Van Note, Davison scored on a Dave Harden single. A flyout and an intentional walk made it two outs with runners on first and second and defensive replacement Bryan Hagerich made it 7-5 when he singled to center. A wild pitch allowed Valichka to score but Hagerich was thrown out trying to score from second. Still, it was enough runs for Delaware (31-22).

In the bottom of the tenth, the Patriots put two runners on but Palumbo flew out to right to end the affair. The shaky relief performance by Delaware's Joe Coudon (4-3) robbed Mike Mihalik of a win. Mihalik allowed just one earned run in seven-plus innings, walking one, striking out three and allowing just seven hits. It also spared first-team All-CAA pitcher Stacen Gant from being tagged with his first loss of the year. He remains 10-0.

The Patriots trailed early after a solo homer by Kelly Buber in the second. Brent Rogers and Brock Donovan hit back-to-back singles to lead off the third, they had a double steal to advance into scoring position and Rogers scored on a Davison ground out. A fielding error by Gant on a Van Note dribbler allowed Donovan to score and it was 3-0. In the fourth, Valichka hit a one-out single, stole second and scored on an Ed McDonnell single. It was 5-0 after seven when Valichka led off with a single in the seventh, went to second on a walk, advanced to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a wild pitch.

The Patriots began their rally in the eight when Palumbo, who leads the nation in runs per game, led off with a double, went to second on a Cooksey ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Looze, who is third in the nation in RBI per game.

In the ninth, the patriots scored all their runs with two outs. Kyle Barrett walked with one-out and pinch runner Josh Campbell went to third on a double by Robby Jacobsen. After Jimmy Freund struck out and Palumbo walked, Cooksey hit his two-run single and Looze hit his two-run double.

The Patriots are now 0-14 when trailing after eight innings but Wednesday's game marked the first time that they rallied to force extra innings when trailing in that situation.

In Old Dominion, the Patriots would face a team they swept rather convincingly this season. UNC Wilmington proved a tougher foe. The Patriots won two of three, splitting a pair of two-run games.