Despite a late-inning three-run surge led by freshman shortstop Ryan Busch and junior third baseman Trevor Matern, the Georgetown baseball team (18-22, 5-10 Big East) fell, 6-3, to George Mason (29-15, 13-8 CAA) to extend its losing streak to four games.

The loss marks the Patriots’ second victory over the Hoyas this season, as the Blue and Gray fell on the road, 12-8, earlier in the season.

Freshman pitcher Max Allen started on the mound for the Hoyas but lasted only two innings after surrendering two runs, which were partially the product of three walks.

Redshirt junior Billy Cosmopulos came on to relieve the freshman and tossed two perfect innings before being replaced by junior Thomas Polus. Polus and redshirt senior Pablo Vinent were each tagged for two runs in their combined three innings on the mound.

Head Coach Pete Wilk believes that problems on the mound have played a large part in the Blue and Gray’s skid.

“We haven’t had consistent starting pitching other than [senior Will] Harris for a while now, and that puts strain on every other aspect of our game. Our offense has cooled off collectively as a group, and the results have reflected those two issues.”

But Georgetown pitchers weren’t the only Hoyas struggling Tuesday, as the lineup was able to produce only three hits over the first seven innings.

However, Georgetown was able to trim the deficit in the seventh. After being hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, senior catcher Kevin Johnson came around to score on a wild pitch. Busch followed with a sacrifice fly to plate junior first baseman Danny Poplawski, who had reached base on a single. Matern capped off the scoring with an RBI double that let senior second baseman Andy Lentz score.

Behind 6-3 in the eighth, the Blue and Gray brought the tying run to the plate but could not capitalize. The Hoyas found themselves in the same situation in the bottom of the ninth but again left men on base, sealing the defeat.

With a difficult weekend conference series at Pittsburgh (19-20, 4-11 Big East) on the horizon, the Hoyas have picked a bad time to drop their last few games. They currently sit ninth in the Big East standings, with only half a game separating the Blue and Gray from its first conference tournament appearance in 25 years.

But if the Hoyas intend to make their postseason tournament dream a reality, they will first have to get through a very tough Pittsburgh team.

“On paper, [Pittsburgh is] having a down year, but the game isn’t played on paper and I know they’re a good team that’s trying to gain some momentum,” Wilk said. “They’re probably looking at us as their chance to get back into the Big East playoff picture, so it promises to be a dog fight.”

First pitch for the first of two games in Pittsburgh is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday, while Sunday’s game will also start at 1 p.m.