WISE, Va. – The Concord University baseball team earned a split with UVa.-Wise Sunday afternoon in the final two games of the regular season in Mountain East Conference Action at Stallard Field as UVa.-Wise won game one , 6-5, and Concord took game two, 9-8.
The Mountain Lions stand at 26-23 overall and 19-13 in the Mountain East Conference while the Cavaliers finish their season at 19-31 overall and 13-19 in the league.
Concord leads the MEC South Division with one day left in the regular season, but will need Charleston to be defeated by West Virginia State in one of the two games between those two teams Monday afternoon.
Game 1: UVa.-Wise 6 – Concord 5
UVa.-Wise scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to win the game in walk-off fashion.
Stuart Paz singled home two runs with two outs in the last inning of play to give the Cavaliers a win. The rally started with three runners of the inning reaching base before senior pitcher
Eli Flynn got consecutive outs on a strikeout and a popout. However, the next batters reach base to get the score to 5-4 before Paz's heroics.
The Mountain Lions built their lead in the fourth as three runs crossed the plate to give Concord a 3-0 lead in a previously scoreless game. Sophomore catcher
Jordan Clark and freshman infielder
Jakob Divers each had an RB in the frame, and Clark also scored a run on an error.
Junior infielder
Chad Frazier extended CU's lead to 5-0 in the fifth as his two-run home run also scored junior catcher
Paul Williams after Williams led off the inning with a walk.
The Cavaliers scored two runs in the sixth to draw within 5-2 before the four-run seventh inning.
Frazier was 2-for-3 with the home run, his fifth of the season, two runs scored and two RBI.
Flynn (3-3) was charged with the loss as he gave up one run on two hits while striking out one.
Senior pitcher
Nate Werner tossed six innings, scattering eight hits and three runs while striking out five.
Game 2: Concord 9 – UVa.-Wise 8 (10 Innings)
CU was the team that erased a deficit in the nightcap as Concord came back to win by a run after trailing 6-0 heading to the third inning.
UVa.-Wise scored five runs in the first inning and added another run in the second to build a six-run advantage.
Concord answered with a run in the third on a Frazier single that brought around freshman infielder
Nathan Neff, and grabbed two runs in the fifth to get within 6-3 of UVa.-Wise. The two
runs in the fifth were products of Neff scoring on a passed ball and Williams recording an RBI single.
The Mountain Lions continued to chip away at the deficit in the seventh as sophomore infielder
Trevor Wiersma notched an RBI double and sophomore outfielder
Evan Webb also had an RBI.
A pinch-hit, two-out home run from sophomore infielder
Adrian Peralta tied the game in the eighth, but the Cavaliers answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Down to its final out in the contest, Divers ripped a single to right field to score Frazier and pinch runner, redshirt freshman infielder
Adam Linkous to once again knot the game, this time at 8-8.
A one-out walk and a stolen base put the winning in scoring position for the Cavaliers in the bottom of the ninth, but junior
Reece Edwards got a strikeout and groundout to end the threat.
Williams led off the top of the 10
th with a double down the left field line. The next batter, Frazier, got down a sacrifice bunt to move Williams, however, UVa.-Wise's Kellen Larkin threw the ball away coming off the mound, allowing Williams to score.
Edwards pitched a scoreless bottom half to secure a wild, come-from-behind victory for Concord.
Divers was the only Concord player with multiple, and was one of four players with at least two hits. Williams led all players with four hits. Frazier and Neff also added two hits in the nightcap.
Edwards (1-0) earned the win in relief as he tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball, striking out two batters.
Redshirt freshman pitcher
Cody Dooley was also stellar out of the bullpen as he tossed six innings, giving up three hits and two runs. Dooley struck out a career-high six batters.
Concord will now await its matchup in the MEC Tournament that gets underway Thursday at Epling Stadium in Beckley, West Virginia.
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