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FAIRFAX, VA - The University at Buffalo (5-5) baseball team rallied to salvage a split in Saturday's doubleheader against George Mason (7-15) at "Hap" Spuhler Field in Fairfax, VA. UB scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to down the Patriots, 4-1, in the nightcap after dropping the opener by an 8-1 score.

Tyler Balentine

In the opener, the Patriots jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first three innings against UB starter Mark McMahon (West Seneca, NY/Timon/St. Jude). The Bulls scored their lone run in the sixth inning of the seven-inning contest as freshman John Boom (London, Ontario/Catholic Central) brought home Bryan Sanchez (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) with an RBI single. UB managed just five hits against GMU starter John Sterling, including three in the sixth inning.

Game two turned into a pitcher's duel between UB starter Tyler Balentine (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and GMU's Stacen Gant.

John Boom

UB pushed across the first run of the contest in the top of the seventh inning as the Bulls were able to break into the GMU bullpen. Grant Smith (0-2) started the inning by giving up singles to Boom and Corey Blair (Oneida, NY/Oneida). Freshman Joe Mihalics (Tonawanda, NY/Timon/St. Jude), playing in place of regular second baseman Adrian Daniels (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport), added a single to load the bases and return the bats to the top of the order.

With the bases juiced, Phil Van Horne's (Scarborough, Ontario/Mother Teresa) grounder was mishandled by GMU second baseman Bruce Baldwin allowing Boom to score the opening run and give the Bulls a 1-0 edge.

However, GMU answered in the bottom half of the frame to force extra innings. Baldwin opened the inning by reaching first safely after Vanhorne commited an error, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and reached third on a groundout. Evan Howard then drove Baldwin in with the tying run with a single to left field.

Joe Mihalics

Blair gave the Bulls the go-ahead run on an RBI double scoring Brandon DiCesare (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit), who had singled earlier in the inning and moved to second on a base hit by Boom. After Brian Zelasko (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) was intentionally walked to load the bases, Josh Morrison relieved Smith and allowed a two-run single by Mihalics to score Blair and Boom.

Mark Garrard (Port Hope, Ontario/Port Hope) came on to relieve Balentine in the bottom of the eighth and pick up his second save of the season. Balentine earned his first victory of the season.

Offensively, Boom was 3-for-3 in the nightcap and 4-for-5 on the day with two runs scored and an RBI. DiCesare had a 3-for-4 afternoon in the second contest and Mihalics was 2-for-4 with two RBIs as the Bulls collected 12 hits in the finale.

The teams will meet in doubleheader on Sunday. Both games will be seven-inning contests with game one beginning at noon. The teams are playing two games instead of the originally scheduled single contest because both squads have lost several playing dates to the weather in the early part of 2002.