FAIRFAX, Va. – The LIU Brooklyn baseball team improved to 5-11 overall Saturday afternoon, beating George Mason, 10-7. The win was LIU's second-straight, and clinched the series win over the Patriots.
 
The game was scoreless for the first three innings of play, as the two starting pitchers were able to end innings quickly, as the two teams combined for only four hits in the early going. But once the Blackbirds got start in the top of the fourth inning, they wouldn't stop.
 
Freshman Andy Camillo led off for LIU with a double. Junior Mark Hernandez followed that up with an RBI double to put the Blackbirds on the board, 1-0. Junior Harrison Preschel was hit by a pitch, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Freshman Luis Arias de los Santos had an RBI groundout, and senior Luis Rios followed that up with an RBI single to make it 3-0. Junior Tommy Jakubowski scored the fourth run of the day with a sacrifice fly to  give LIU the 4-0 advantage.
 
In the bottom of the frame, however, the Patriots used a three-RBI triple and a single to score four runs of their own and tie the game up, 4-4. The score stayed tied until the top of the sixth, when LIU was able to score three more runs to go up on George Mason once more.
 
Arias was the first to score for LIU, reaching on a single, and scoring three plays later on a wild pitch. Turner was walked, and Lamboy's double to left center put him on third, where he too would score on a wild pitch. Lamboy would come home on an error by the catcher, and the Blackbirds came out of the inning with a 7-4 lead.
 
From there, LIU added one run each in the top of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. In the seventh, Rios had an RBI double, and in the eighth, Preschel's sacrifice fly made it 9-4. Sophomore Andrew Turner had a leadoff homer in the top of the ninth for LIU's tenth run of the day.
 
George Mason would score three more runs in the bottom of the eight on a hit, a walk and two errors, but it wouldn't be enough, as the Blackbirds took the win, 10-7.
 
Sophomore Cory Hart (1-1) had the win on the mound for LIU, striking out seven batters in 4.0 innings pitched, giving up just two earned runs. Senior Vincent Tranchina had the no-decision start, pitching 3.2 innings, while junior Nick Freijomil earned his second save of the season. Freijomil held the Patriots hitless for the final 1.1 innings of play.
 
At the plate, senior Luis Rios went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, while junior Mark Hernandez was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Sophomore Andrew Turner was 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Harrison Preschel had a double and an RBI for the Blackbirds.

Up next, LIU hosts its home and Northeast Conference opener, welcoming Sacred Heart to Brooklyn for a four-game series Easter weekend. The two teams open play Thursday, March 24 at 3 p.m., and play a doubleheader Friday, before capping the series, Saturday, March 26 with a single game at 1 p.m.