Emmitsburg, Md. (March 6, 2012)--Mount St. Mary's lost its home opener to George Mason, 5-2, on Tuesday afternoon at E.T. Straw Family Stadium.  Michael Foster, Mark Quaranta and Ryan Owens each had two hits in the loss.

The Mount struck for the first run of the game in the third when Owens singled through the left side, moved to second on an Austin Carter sacrifice bunt, and scored on a Foster base hit.

Freshman Scott Nickerson, making his first collegiate start, cruised through the first four innings, allowing one hit with four strikeouts.  Nickerson, however, ran into trouble in the fifth when he loaded the bases on walks with two outs for Dan Schafferman, who came through with a grand slam to left field to give the Patriots (7-4) at 4-1 lead.

The Mount (1-9) got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Foster singled up the middle with two outs and came around to score on a Quaranta double.

George Mason added an insurance run in the eighth on a Jordan Hill double to left.

Foster and Quaranta each went 2-for-4 with an RBI while Owens was 2-for-4 with a run scored in the game for the Mount.  Nickerson allowed four runs in five innings of work to take the loss.  He struck out five and allowed just two hits in the game.

Thomas Williams allowed one run while striking out two in 3.2 innings of relief while Dan Horner struck out the only batter he faced for the Mount.

Brig Tison went 2-for-4 while Josh Leemhuis was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and three stolen bases for George Mason.  John Williams allowed two runs in six innings to pick up the win with Chris O'Grady striking out four in the final two innings to earn the save.

The Mount is back in action tomorrow with a 4:00 p.m. game at James Madison.