Lehigh University
George Mason
Mountain Hawks rally but fall short against Patriots
3/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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“We scrapped pretty hard in the seventh inning,” Lehigh head coach Sean Leary said. “Unfortunately we’re still trying to figure out how to win those close games. But I thought we battled pretty well.”
Jordan Warncke took the loss for the Mountain Hawks, who fall to 3-11 on the season. Jason Koziol earned the win for the Patriots as they improved to 9-3.
The Mountain Hawks manufactured five runs on just six hits at Spuhler Field on Friday. Billy Goldman, Brendan Pifer and Billy Swenson each drove in a run, and the Brown and White scored three unearned runs in the seventh to mount the comeback.
“We took advantage of our opportunities today by getting some key hits,” Leary said. “We weren’t spectacular offensively, but we battled.”
Greg Angelo threw 4.1 innings to start the game on the mound, giving up five runs – four earned – on seven hits. The junior lefty struck out two batters and walked five before giving way to Warncke in the fifth.
Warncke put on one of his bester performances of the season, pitching 3.2 innings out of the bullpen and giving up two runs on one hit. The junior right-hander allowed Lehigh to get back into the game before giving up the go-ahead run in the seventh on an RBI ground out by Brent Weiss. The Patriots got to Warncke one more time in the eighth when Spencer Wiggins scored on a wild pitch to give George Mason the necessary insurance to hold on for the win.
“He came in and he threw the ball pretty well out there,” Leary said of Warncke. “I thought he was a hard-luck loser today.”
George Mason struck first in the second inning when Weiss connected for a single up the middle and Mark Hill came around to score on an error by Patrick Groome. Weiss scored two batters later when Wiggins snuck a single through the left side, giving the Patriots an early 2-0 lead.
The Mountain Hawks cut the lead in half in the third on an RBI single by Goldman, scoring Patrick Groome from second. The Patriots answered with a run in each of the next three innings to take a 5-1 lead through five innings.
Lehigh mounted its comeback in the seventh, scoring four runs to pull even with the Patriots. Pifer singled to right, scoring Geoff Campbell from second, and three more runs scored when Mark Hill made an error while trying to throw out Groome.
The Mountain Hawks will play two more games against the Patriots on Saturday and Sunday. Lehigh will send Mike Lebo to the mound on Saturday, and Andrew Berger will take the hill on Sunday.
