March 17, 2008

The George Mason baseball team will play a pair of home games against Marist this week as the Patriots take on the Red Foxes on Tuesday and Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. After starting the season 1-6, Mason has won six of nine to improve to 7-9 on the year. With a sweep of Marist, Mason can reach .500 for the first time all season.

The Patriots are 5-2 at home on the season and they've reached that mark with strong offense and some timely pitching performances. Mason is hitting .294 as a team with 22 home runs in 16 games. Five regulars are hitting better than .325 led by Ryan Soares' .385 average. Aaron Tenney is hitting .381 while Justin Bour is batting .373 with five homers and a team-high 18 RBI. Scott Krieger is hitting .349 with a team-high seven homers and 20 runs. Spencer Wiggins is hitting .328 with eight steals.

After opening up the year with a 10.11 ERA through nine games, the Patriots have put together a 4.13 ERA in their past seven contests. Kris Mengle will start for Mason on Tuesday. He has a 5.06 ERA and an 0-1 record. Trevor Rosenberg will start on Wednesday. He's 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA.

Marist is 2-7 on the season as the offense has struggled. The Red Foxes have hit .238 with just two players hitting better than .275. Ryan Gauck is hitting .333 with three homers, eight RBI and seven runs, all team highs. Brian McDonough is batting .303. Marist, as a team, has as many steals as Wiggins.

Marist has a 7.25 team ERA. The starting pitchers for the Red Foxes have not been set for the two-game series. Rob Glowacki, Josh Rickards and Richard Cary are the only pitchers with an ERA less than 5.40. Glowacki has not allowed a run in two and two-third innings. Josh Rickards has a 4.60 ERA in 15 and two-third innings and Cary has a 4.91 ERA in three and two-third innings.