CLOVER, S.C. – The Concord University baseball team fell in a pair of games, 11-2 and 7-1, to Shepherd Sunday afternoon at Clover High School.
The games were the season openers for both teams. After the losses CU is now 0-2 overall and in Mountain East Conference play while Shepherd is unblemished at 2-0.
Game 1: Shepherd 11 – Concord 2An eight-run third inning by SU was too much for the Mountain Lions to overcome.
The scoring outburst by the Rams in the third chased CU starting pitcher junior
Chris Kelly (0-1) from the game as he gave up eight earned runs in 2.2 innings of work. Senior
Bryant Pybus worked the final 4.1 innings as he struck out a career-high three batters while allowing two earned runs.
Junior outfielder
Andrew Seigel was 2-for-2 for the Mountain Lions at the plate as he drove in both Concord runs. Seigel's first RBI was a third-inning base hit that scored senior second baseman
Jerrod Groves while his sacrifice fly in the fifth inning plated junior shortstop
Brad Sullivan.
Groves and Sullivan each picked up a hit in the defeat.
Game 2: Shepherd 7 – Concord 1Concord was unable to capitalize on eight walks by three different Shepherd pitchers.
The Rams' pitching was wildly effective as they limited Concord's offense to two hits and struck out eight batters despite walking eight. Groves, the leadoff hitter, drew three walks while senior outfielder
T.J. Brockway tallied two walks.
The Mountain Lions left 14 runners on base in the six-run defeat.
Seigel and Sullivan had the only two CU hits in the nightcap.
Sophomore pitcher
Zach Kelly (0-1) battled through six innings as he gave up five runs on seven hits while striking out three batters.
Freshman pitcher
Angel Morales tossed the final inning in relief for Concord as he gave up two earned runs.
The teams will finish their four-game series 9:30 a.m. Monday at Clover High School.
