Baseball Drops First Game of 2021 to George Mason

Friday, March 5

Fairfax, VA

2 p.m.

University of Richmond

4-1

George Mason

1-2

Richmond

George Mason

Photo by: Spiders Athletics

03/05/2021 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

FAIRFAX, Va. – Spider baseball suffered its first loss of the season Friday evening at the hands of the George Mason Patriots in a nonconference tilt of two Atlantic 10 teams. George Mason used three home runs to defeat the Spiders 10-7 at Spuhler Field to hand Richmond its first loss of the year. Mason improved its record to 1-2.

Colby Wyatt (Glendale, Ariz.) got the start on the hill. He threw 2.2 innings, giving up six runs, all earned with a pair of strikeouts while suffering the loss. Antonio Balducci (Mechanicsville, Va.) faced two hitters before giving way to Alden Mathes (Broomall, Pa.) Mathes tossed 4.1 innings, giving up five hits, four earned runs and struck out six hitters. Josh Willitts (Southampton, N.J.) made his collegiate debut, throwing a scoreless frame and striking out his first hitter.

The Spider offense knocked out 11 hits, led by a 4-for-5 effort from Drew Blakely (Galesburg, Mich.), who scored twice. Jordan Schulefand (Parkland, Fla.) added a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI and scored once. Dominic Toso (Philadelphia, Pa.) added a 1-for-5 effort and drove in a team-high three runs. Justin Cook (Virginia Beach, Va.), Chris Rinaldi (Westfield, N.J.) and Zach Lass (Mechanicsville, Va.) each finished with a hit and scored a run in the loss.

George Mason jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings. The Patriots scored on a wild pitch and added three-run homer in the second. An RBI ground out and a single in the third extended the lead to 6-0. Mason added two more runs in the fifth on a homer, and a solo homer in the sixth made it 9-0.

After Mason went to the bullpen in the sixth, Blakely singled to left and scored on a two-out double from Rinaldi. After a Lass walk, Schulefand singled to bring in Rinaldi and Masel reached on an error to load the bases. Toso cleared the bases after he belted a double to centerfield to cut the Patriot lead to 9-5.

Mason answered back with a solo run in the bottom of the seventh on a single to right.

The Spiders got a couple back in the top of the eighth. Blakely again ignited the rally with a single up the middle. Cook brought him around after pushing a double down the right field line. Lass brought Cook in on a single to first and a fielder's choice snuffed out the Spider rally.

Richmond returns to Pitt Field tomorrow morning as they host the VMI Keydets, with first pitch set for 11 a.m.

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