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Box Score 2
BECKLEY, W. Va. – The Concord University baseball team lost back-to-back games for the first time in over a month Tuesday as Fairmont State got the better of the Mountain Lions in a pair of one-run games 2-1 and 8-7.
The losses snap a five-game Concord winning streak and drop CU's record to 28-18 overall and 23-9 in West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
Despite the losses, Concord moved ahead of West Virginia State for first place in the WVIAC-South by 2.3 power rating points after the Yellow Jackets lost a doubleheader against Shepherd.
Game One: Fairmont State 2 – Concord 1
The Mountain Lions dropped a heartbreaker in game one to Fairmont State (19-21, 16-13 WVIAC) when Josh Wine singled home what turned out to be the game-winning run in the seventh inning.
Sophomore second baseman
Jerrod Groves drove a two-out double to left field in the bottom of the seventh, but Nick Opferman registered his third strikeout of the contest to end the comeback threat and give FSU the 2-1 win.
Concord struck first on the day when freshman outfielder
Andrew Seigel blasted a double that scored senior outfielder
Jacob Mays, who walked to lead off the inning to give Concord the 1-0 lead. The RBI-hit was Seigel's 20th of the year.
Fairmont State tied the game at 1-1 off of a sacrifice bunt in the fifth before its aforementioned game-winning hit in the seventh inning.
Sophomore pitcher
Kevin Mack had another solid outing Tuesday; he gave up just one run on six hits while striking out two batters in 5.1 innings. Mack, who has lowered his ERA to 3.01, has now allowed only four runs in his last 23.1 innings pitched.
Chris Baker (6-1) lost his first game of the season after giving up one run and four hits in 1.2 innings of relief work.
The normally potent CU offense was held to just three hits in what was its second-lowest scoring output of the year.
Game Two: Fairmont State 8 – Concord 7
Sophomore
Ryan Johnston went 4-for-4 with three runs and one RBI while finishing a triple away from the cycle and Mays drove in two runs with a clutch single in the seventh inning, but it wasn't quite enough in Concord's 8-7 game-two defeat.
Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, the Mountain Lions' bats got going with a Groves single that scored Johnston, who led the inning off with a double, to tie the game.
Concord went on to plate three runs in the third inning off of an RBI-single from junior outfielder
Bret Blevins and a two-run home run from Johnston to give CU a 4-1 edge early on.
The home run was Johnston's seventh of the season. He is now leading the team in batting average (.405) while ranking second in both home runs and RBI (46). Johnston has five multi-hit games in Concord's last six contests.
Concord's lead was short lived as Fairmont State answered back with a five-run fourth inning in addition to adding two more runs in the seventh to take a 8-4 lead heading to the bottom of the inning.
Down to their final out with senior outfielder
Devin Smith on first base, the Mountain Lions clawed back into the game as Johnston singled and senior first baseman
Joey Miller walked to load the bases which led to senior short stop
Josh Wenger delivering a run-scoring single to make it a 8-5 ballgame.
Mays proceeded to come through with his timely two-run single that cut the CU deficit to just one and moved the tying run to third base. However, FSU pitcher Nick Mayle managed to abort the rally attempt by forcing Groves to fly out to end the game as the Falcons escaped with the 8-7 win.
Chris Kelly got the start on the mound for Concord in game two and went 3.1 innings, giving up five runs while striking out four batters.
Juniors
Tim Leather and
Dustin Nuckels closed out the game for CU with Leather allowing three runs in three innings and Nuckels pitching a perfect two-thirds of an inning.
The Mountain Lions will look to return to their winning ways in a non-conference nine-inning game vs. Bluefield State Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. in what will be Concord's final home game of the 2013 season.
