BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team split the opening two games of its series against West Virginia Wesleyan as CU won game one 13-1 before dropping game two 8-2 at Hank Ellis Field in Mountain East Conference play Friday evening.
The Mountain Lions are 16-15 overall and 10-8 in the MEC. Meanwhile, WVWC is 7-25 overall and 6-12 against conference teams.
Game 1: Concord 13 – West Virginia Wesleyan 1
Concord took command of the game early as it had back-to-back three-run innings in the second and third to build a 6-1 lead on its way to a 12-run decision.
The Bobcats scored its only run of the game, unearned, in the first.
CU opened the second inning with doubles from senior catcher
Paul Williams and senior outfielder
Oscar Garcia before junior infielder
Trevor Wiersma deposited his third home run of the season over the right field fence.
The third inning was sparked by another home run. Before the long ball, senior infielder
Chad Frazier led off the frame by doubling and scoring two batters later on a sacrifice fly. A walk to Williams set up junior outfielder
Evan Webb's two-run home run.
After a scoreless fourth, Frazier doubled to start the fifth and later scored on a two-run single by Webb that also brought in sophomore outfielder
Adam Linkous as the Mountain Lions built an 8-1 advantage.
RBI doubles from Frazier and Linkous accounted for all three runs in the sixth, and junior infielder
Brett Simmons and freshman utility
Anthony Stehlin each came off the bench to get an RBI in the seventh.
Junior pitcher
Troy Beckner (5-3) faced just three batters over the minimum after the first inning. Beckner tossed six innings while scattering six hits and striking out two. Senior pitcher
Reece Edwards retried the side in order in the seventh.
Frazier led a 13-hit attack for the Mountain Lions as all three of his hits were doubles. Linkous, Webb and Wiersma each had two hits. Webb drove in four runs with Linkous tallying three RBI.
Game 2: West Virginia Wesleyan 8 – Concord 2
WVWC erased a 2-0 Concord lead with six runs in the fourth inning as it went onto to split the doubleheader.
A single from junior infielder
Adrian Peralta scored Webb in the second to get the Mountain Lions on the board first. Two innings later, Wiersma hit his second home run of the doubleheader—a solo shot—to double the CU lead.
After only having two runners reach through the first 3.1 innings, the Bobcats crossed home plate six times over the remainder of the fourth inning to take a 6-2 edge.
Wesleyan notched two more runs in the fifth, and CU had just one hitter reach—a Frazier single—over the final three innings.
Linkous had another multi-hit game going 2-for-3. Five other Mountain Lions had one hit in game two. Â
Junior pitcher
Will Guay (2-3) gave up five earned runs in 3.2 innings. Freshman pitcher
Logan Morrison allowed an unearned run and struck out two in 2.1 innings of relief.
Concord and WVWC conclude the four-game set 12:00 p.m. Saturday.
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