Baseball completes four-game sweep of Long Island

Senior relief pitcher T.J. O'Grady picked up the win Sunday afternoon in game four against Long Island, marking the sixth win in a row for the Patriots. (John Powell)

The George Mason Baseball team completed a four-game weekend sweep of Long Island, winning by a score of 15-8 Sunday afternoon at Spuhler Field. The win is the sixth in a row for the Patriots, as they improve their record to 6-2 on the young season. Long Island falls to 0-4 as this was their first series of the season.

The Patriots came out swinging, as they plated seven runs in the first two innings to hold a 7-0 advantage. Just as the Patriots started to get comfortable, Long Island fought their way back in it.

Long Island got a run back in the third inning, but then exploded for six runs in the fourth inning, capped off by a bases loaded blooping single off the end of the bat of Drew Walsh. Two runs scored on the initial hit, but the throw was short and got by third baseman Brig Tison, allowing the tying run to score.

However, Mason did not let the blown lead get to them, as they took the lead back in the fifth as Tison scored on a fielding error by the Blackbirds.

The turning point came when outfielder Jeremy Haas crushed a two-run home run in the sixth to push the Mason lead to 10-7.

On a day when the wind was mostly blowing from left to right, it temporarily happened to shift in the opposite direction on Haas’ home run. Haas hit the ball high in the air, getting it into the wind. The home run had the distance from initial contact, but getting the ball into the wind led to it to being a moon shot as the ball landed well into the parking lot.

Senior outfielder Shane Davis also had a big day offensively for the Patriots, going 3-4 with two RBIs. Davis is now hitting .520 on the young season.

While T.J. O’Grady got the win on the mound in relief for the Patriots, the most impressive pitching performance came from freshman southpaw Jake Kalish. Kalish, who’s brother Ryan is a member of the Red Sox, worked three effective innings allowing only one hit, walking two and striking out three. Kalish’s command was most impressive, as he was economic with his pitches by only throwing 44 through three innings of work.

The Patriots will have tomorrow off before traveling to Mount St. Mary’s for a Tuesday afternoon matinee. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.