Varsity Baseball
Mustangs Off to 3-1 Start;
Defeat Word and Dominion

By Jared Allan; Paul Mene (March 30, 2006)

The varsity nine improved its record to 3-1 with two wins against Word of Life and Dominion High Schools. Both games were won by the slaughter rule. The Mustangs defeated Word of Life 16-0 in five innings and defeated Dominion 10-0 in 6 innings.

Against Word of Life this past Saturday the Mustangs the Mustangs were led by Joe Musket’s stellar pitching performance. In four innings, Musket only allowed one hit and he struck out nine. Will Marshall closed the game in the fifth inning, finalizing the Mason victory with two strike outs. The team had powerful hitting performances by John Root who went 2-4, as well as Jimmy Piscopo’s two hits and two RBI’s. Paul Mene and Byron Mendenhall combined for five hits and seven RBI’s.

Invigorated by that victory,  the Mustangs started out the first inning against Dominion with a 1-0 lead. The Mustangs expanded on that lead in the third inning, driving in four runs, three of which were brought in my sophomore Alex Prewit with a triple. Byron Mendenhall allowed only four hits in six innings on the mound, as well as going 2-4 with a monstrous home run. John Root said, “The game was not won and lost by the amount of hits we made, but how the Tigers reacted to our hard hit ground balls. We hit the ball hard and made the Tigers fight for every out.” Contributing to the Mason victory were Matt Dorr who went 2-4, and a step-up performance at second base by sophomore Mike Straub.

The team will play Brentsville this Monday, April 3, at home in hopes to defeat the Tigers for the second time this year. Brandon Ting said, “If they pitch their lefty again, hopefully we will have better success with his fastball than last time.”