Fourth Estate Sports Editor Stephen Czarda

[PREVIEW] Baseball tangles with Fairfield in weekend duel

On Saturday, Mason baseball hosts Fairfield University in a doubleheader before squaring off with the Stags again on Sunday in the series finale.

Mason (8-3) is off to its best start since the 2009 season when they started 14-3 en route to the school’s only at-large bid.

Fairfield (1-4) continues its Commonwealth tour in Fairfax, as they faced the University of Richmond earlier this week, losing 2-13 and 0-8, but also capturing the first win of the season behind a dominant performance on the mound by EJ Ashworth.

Paul Hewitt backs current NCAA system for student-athletes

Imagine receiving the brunt end of a fiery debate that rocks the foundation of American higher education to its core and you are just months removed from high school and had no prior hand in the debate.

Add in the fact that rules were implemented for your current organization by an outside organization that is preventing you from turning professional, forcing you to join said current organization, and you have thousands of men who are labeled as coddled and not deserving of fame.

Men's basketball's frustrating season continues with second loss to George Washington

With three seconds remaining in the first half of Sunday’s Atlantic 10 matchup between Mason and George Washington at the Charles E. Smith Center, head coach Paul Hewitt called a timeout to set up a possible game tying play just minutes after blowing a six-point lead.

Marko Gujanicic inbounded the ball to Byron Allen who raced up the court and found a wide-open Patrick Holloway already cocked in-stance, ready to hit a long range jumper.

Instead, the ball went directly through the sophomore’s hands and out of bounds to end the first half.

Welcome to the A-10: 2014 Mason women's lacrosse

Despite snowy conditions and bitter cold, the Mason women’s lacrosse team opened play last week against the University of California, Davis, losing 9-8. They followed up their season opener with another one point defeat, this time served by Winthrop.

Picked to finish fifth in their first season as a member of the Atlantic 10, here is a quick rundown of each team, key players and games vs. the Patriots over the coming months:

Welcome to the A-10: 2014 Mason Softball

Last week, Mason softball opened the 2014 campaign in South Carolina, taking on Ball State and USC Upstate in tournament play.

The team, coached by Joe Verbanic, faces an entirely new set of conference opponents, as the move to the Atlantic 10 starts new rivalries with the likes of George Washington, St. Joseph’s, and the University of Massachusetts.

Despite being selected to finish seventh in the conference preseason poll, Mason returns 19 of 22 from the 2013 roster.

St. Bonaventure defeats Mason men's basketball, 85-73

Despite a large alumni contingent at the Patriot Center on Saturday night to watch Mason play its first Homecoming game as a member of the Atlantic 10, the Patriots failed to feed off of the raucous crowd, falling to St. Bonaventure’s 85-73 in their first matchup as conference foes.

Mason, now 9-16 on the campaign, is 2-9 in A-10 play and are in a three-way tie for last place alongside Rhode Island and Fordham. Both teams, however, hold tie breakers over Mason with head-to-head victories.

Welcome to the A-10: 2014 Mason Baseball

On Friday, Mason men’s baseball will enter a new era in their history. Always a consistent contender for the Colonial Athletic Association regular season and conference titles, the Patriots face an entirely new set of competition in the Atlantic 10.

Selected to finish fifth in the 12-team conference, Mason will open up play at the University of South Carolina Upstate, the first of seven games in the Palmetto State before their first home game of the season against Hartford on February 28th.

Freshman tennis player faces unique adjustments

The transition for any student-athlete attending college for the first time is filled with a myriad of challenges ranging from life spent away from family to night classes.
 
For Mason women’s tennis player, Sofia Santa Maria, putting on a tennis jersey has been second nature for nearly her entire life.

OPINION: The best possible Super Bowl is one in cold weather

Relax Mike Ditka, a cold weather Super Bowl isn’t as bad as you extravagantly deplored earlier this week. In fact, football played in temperatures that make your hands numb fits right into the rugged, testosterone bound game’s roots.

Mason men's volleyball cruises to straight set victory in home opener

On Thursday, the Mason men’s volleyball team hosted the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras for their 2014 home opener.

The University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras received the opening point of the first set on a back-and-forth volley that mustered a subsequent audible cheer from a large contingent of University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras fans that made the trip to Fairfax. The rest of the game, however, was dominated by Mason as they took the match by a final score of 3-0.