Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – Ryan Johnston drove in four runs and
Devin Smith had his longest outing of the season as the Concord University baseball team defeated West Virginia Wesleyan, 12-5, Sunday on Senior Day to complete a three-game West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-South Division sweep of the Bobcats.
The win combined with earlier doubleheader sweeps of Wesleyan and West Liberty gives the Mountain Lions a perfect 5-0 week. For the season, Concord is 28-16 overall and 23-7 in WVIAC play. Concord trails West Virginia State by just 0.75 in power rating points for first place in the WVIAC-South.
With six games remaining in the regular season in addition to postseason play, the 2013 Mountain Lions have a realistic opportunity to surpass CU's 2008 35-win team for the school record in single-season victories.
Johnston led Concord Sunday with a 3-for-4, four RBI performance that included his sixth home run of the season. The sophomore third baseman has registered multi-hit games in Concord's last four contests, increasing his season batting average to .390.
Andrew Seigel led all players with four hits (4-for-6) in the game, marking the second four-plus hit day of his career. He also stole his 22nd base of the year.
Also producing multi-hit games Sunday were Smith (3-for-5),
Josh Wenger (3-for-4) and
Jerrod Groves (2-for-4). Smith and Wenger both had doubles with Smith also driving in a pair of runs in addition to shutting down Wesleyan's bats for the majority of the afternoon on the mound.
After giving up a Bobcat run in the first inning, Smith settled down to allow only one hit and no runs over the next five innings. Meanwhile Concord's bats went off for 10 runs on 16 hits to take a 10-1 lead over Wesleyan heading into the seventh.
Wesleyan would get to Smith for five runs in the seventh, but
Justin Willard came on in relief for Concord with runners on first and third and two outs to strikeout Nick Jones, getting CU out of the jam with a 10-5 lead.
Chris Baker and
Tim Leather pitched shutout innings in the eighth and ninth while Concord added two additional insurance runs when Seigel scored on a passed ball in the seventh and
Holt Cassada drove in Wenger with a single in the eighth to ensure the 12-5 victory.
The win improved Smith's record to 2-3 on the year.
The Mountain Lions will play six games in the final week of the regular season starting with a doubleheader against Fairmont State 3:00 p.m. Tuesday at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley, W. Va. Admission to the doubleheader is $5.
Notes
-Prior to Sunday's game Concord's 2013 senior class of Smith, Wenger, Willard,
Jacob Mays and
Drew Spear were recognized for the contributions to the program during their CU careers.
-Concord more than doubled West Virginia Wesleyan in hits (20-9).
- Seigel, Groves and Wenger are all on seven-game hitting streaks.
-The 28 wins are a career-best for head coach
Andrew Wright, who had previously won 27 and 26 games in his first two seasons as Concord's head coach.
