Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, DE – Junior leftfielder Jared Olson crushed three home runs and knocked in five to lead a short-manned University of Delaware baseball team to an 11-6 victory over George Mason during Colonial Athletic Association action on Friday afternoon at Bob Hannah Stadium.

Olson’s outburst paced the Blue Hen offense which slugged six home runs in the game, despite playing without captains Alex Buchholz and Adam Tsakonas who both missed their first action of the season. Buchholz was a late scratch after suffering an injury during pre-game warm-ups, while Tsakonas missed the game after falling ill during the week.

Despite missing two key members of the team’s potent lineup, Delaware (15-24, 7-12 CAA) saw each of its first eight hitters record a hit, including five who had multi-hit efforts. Along with Olson (at right), Kyle Davis, Ryan Cuneo, Ryan Reed, and Chris Nehl all had two hits, while Davis, Reed, and Josh Dean all went deep.

With his three home runs, Olson tied the single-game school record for homers in a game which has been accomplished by 14 other players. Tsakonas was the most recent player to reach the milestone, crushing three in the opening game of the Hofstra series earlier in the year.

Although the final score was one-sided, the game was closely-contested as the two teams battled to a 3-3 tie entering the bottom of the fifth. In that frame, Scott Shockley ripped a one-out single before Cuneo worked a walk. With two outs, Olson stepped up to the plate and quickly tacked on three more runs with a shot over the right field wall.

Mason (20-21, 12-8) responded with two of its own in the sixth to pull within one before Delaware came back to do some more damage in the bottom of the inning. Although the Patriots put the Hens’ first two batters down in order, Shockley was hit by a pitch and Cuneo followed with an RBI double. Reed put two more on the board with a blast to right field before Olson slammed his third home run of the day on a shot to left center.

Leading by six, Delaware added one more run on Davis’ fourth home run of the year in the seventh inning. The Patriots came back with one in the eighth, but it proved to be too little, too late as David Slovak hammered down the win, holding George Mason scoreless over the last 1.2 innings of play. During his brief outing, the senior stuck out three and allowed only one base runner.

Slovak was not the only Delaware pitcher to have a strong outing as Blue Hen ace Mike McGuire (5-4) struck out a season-high 10 batters and allowed only three earned runs during his six innings of work.

George Mason’s staff did not fair as well during the game as Dan Jaycox (1-4) suffered the loss after allowing 10 runs on 12 hits in 5.2 innings of work.

The Blue Hens got to Jaycox early after Olson put the Blue Hens on the board in the second with a deep shot to dead centerfield that caromed off the batter’s eye. On the afternoon, he spread the ball around nicely, hitting one home run to left field, one to straightaway center, and one to right.

The next inning, George Mason took its first and only lead of the game when the Patriots’ Mark Hill laced a two-run single to center. Delaware retook control of the contest in the bottom of the third when Dean ripped a two-run home run to left center. Filling in for Tsakonas, Dean also added a defensive highlight in centerfield when he tracked a long fly ball in the third inning, and despite tripping, he regrouped and made a great catch from his knees.

In the fourth, a home run by Mason’s Ryan Uphouse tied the game at three, but Delaware responded with eight runs in the next three innings to capture the victory.

The two teams will continue their three-game series with a 1 p.m. meeting tomorrow at Bob Hannah Stadium.

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