BASEBALL: BIG IS BETTER

BIG INNINGS DECIDE SERIES vs SHIPPENSBURG

Concord's baseball team both thrived on the big inning, and suffered from it, in a three-game non-conference series against Shippensburg University this weekend at Anderson Field.

The Mountain Lions won the first game of a seven-inning doubleheader on Saturday, but dropped the nightcap and a nine-inning single game on Sunday.

SATURDAY, GAME 1: CONCORD 7, SHIPPENSBURG 5
BOXSCORE / PLAY-BY-PLAY

The visiting Raiders – ranked 8th in the NCBWA Atlantic Region – took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the 5th inning,
Bret Blevins AB
when CU's offense busted out for a decisive six-run rally.

Keith Morrisroe's RBI one-out triple brought in the first run, and Bret Blevins drove in Morrisroe with a single one out later.  Ryan Johnston walked, and T.J. Brockway plated Blevins with a single.  Ian Humphrey then launched a three-run homer that gave CU the lead to stay.

Concord starting pitcher Ryan Weatherholtz worked six strong innings before tiring in the 7th, when Will Zuspan came on to retire all three batters he faced to get the save.

Weatherholtz got the win by scattering 12 hits, walking one and striking out five.  Morrisroe, Brockway, Humphrey and Devin Smith had each had two hits to pace the offense.


SATURDAY, GAME 2:  SHIPPENSBURG 5, CONCORD 1
BOXSCORE / PLAY-BY-PLAY

Concord scratched out an unearned run in the bottom of the 1st, but it would be the only run allowed by SU starter Jimmy Miller.  The senior right-hander limited CU to six hits over six innings to get the win.

CU starter Tyler Zimm kept the Raiders off the board until the 5th, when Tyler Basso hit a two-run homer.  SU would score once more in the 6th and plate two insurance runs in the 7th.

Jerrod Groves had three hits and Brockway two for the Mountain Lions.


SUNDAY:  SHIPPENSBURG 15, CONCORD 8
BOXSCORE / PLAY-BY-PLAY

Shippensburg pieced together a series of big innings – three runs in the 1st, four in the 2nd and six in the 4th – to take the series' rubber game.

Brockway led the Mountain Lions by going 2-5 with five RBIs.  He drove in a run with a triple in the bottom of the 1st and another with a sacrifice fly in the 2nd.  He crushed a two-run double in the CU's four-run 4th and brought in another run with a groundout in the 5th.

Groves added four hits and Bryant Pybus two for Concord.


Up next for Concord (4-10) is its conference opener – a WVIAC doubleheader at Fairmont State on Saturday, March 10.  First pitch is scheduled for noon.


(statistics provided by CU SID GA Becky Brouse)






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