Concord Wins Game One, Falls in Game Two at West Virginia State

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball concluded its series with West Virginia State by splitting the twin bill, winning 10-1 before losing 11-6, in Mountain East Conference play at Cal Bailey Field Monday.

Concord moves to 15-17 overall and 9-7 in the MEC while WVSU is now 16-10 overall and 11-5 in the league.

Game 1: Concord 10 – West Virginia State 1
Concord scored five runs in the first three innings, and freshman pitcher Troy Beckner surrendered just one run on two hits to the Yellow Jackets as CU won game one comfortably, 10-1.

Redshirt freshman infielder Trevor Wiersma doubled in sophomore infielder Chad Frazier in the first inning to star the scoring before senior outfielder Andrew Seigel singled home two runs in the second inning.

Leading 3-0, redshirt freshman outfielder Jordan Clark launched his first of two home runs on the afternoon, a two-run shot, to elevate Concord's lead to 5-0 after three innings.

Senior infielder Brad Sullivan notched an RBI single in the fifth before fellow senior infielder Holt Cassada drove in the final four runs for Concord, two on an RBI single and two more on his first career home run in the top of the seventh.

The only WVSU run came on an RBI double in the fifth.

Cassada was the only CU player to notch a multi-hit game as he had three hits and four RBI. Clark and Seigel each had two RBI.

Meanwhile, Beckner was exceptional as he struck out six batters in his complete-game victory. Additionally, the Roanoke, Virginia native retired the first 14 batters he faced, and the first base runner for West Virginia State was a two-out walk in the fifth inning.

Game 2: West Virginia State 11 – Concord 6
Seven combined runs by the Yellow Jackets in the fourth and fifth innings allowed them to take a lead they would not relinquish.

Both teams struck for two runs in the first inning as the Mountain Lions' runs came courtesy of a Wiersma single that scored Frazier and Sullivan.

After West Virginia State took a 4-3 lead through three innings, Clark answered with a two-run home run that plated Wiersma in the fourth.

From there, West Virginia State scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to overtake CU 6-4 and added four more in the fifth inning to go ahead 10-4.

Cassada and sophomore catcher Paul Williams scored on a base hit by Sullivan in the ninth, but Concord could not get any closer than 11-6.

In game two, Wiersma had two hits and two RBI while Sullivan had three hits and drove in a run. Clark added his sixth home run of the season, the most home runs for a CU player in a season since Joey Miller hit 13 in 2014.

Junior pitcher Nate Werner (3-4) was hit with the loss as he gave up six runs in 3.2 innings.

The Mountain Lions start a four-game series at West Virginia Wesleyan 1:00 p.m. Saturday.