WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Concord University baseball team went 1-1 to start Mountain East Conference play late Saturday night and into early Sunday morning against Wheeling Jesuit at Wild Things Park.
CU (7-2, 1-1 MEC) lost game one 4-3, but rebounded to take game two 7-2 over the Cardinals (2-10, 1-1 MEC).
Game 1: Wheeling Jesuit 4 – Concord 3
After falling behind 4-1, Concord's seventh-inning rally came up just short.
The early stages of the contest was a pitching duel between Concord's senior pitcher
Troy Beckner and Wheeling Jesuit's Payton Faris.
Beckner struck out the side in the first inning, then stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout in a popout in the second inning to keep the game scoreless.
The Mountain Lions plated the first run of the game as sophomore infielder
Anthony Stehlin reached on an infield single to score junior outfielder
Ryan Fralin in the fifth. However, the Cardinals took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the frame and added two more scores in the sixth.
With one out in the seventh, senior infielder
Ian Southcott doubled, and was moved to third on a groundout. But, it left CU with just one out to play with in its rally attempt. Senior infielder
Brett Simmons sent a single to left center field to trim the deficit to two. And Simmons scored on freshman infielder
Ryan Meister's two-out triple. After a walk to senior catcher
Jordan Clark, Wheeling Jesuit was able to get the final out of the game to end the Concord rally.
Divers recorded three hits. Simmons and Southcott each had two hits while Simmons adding a run scored and an RBI.
Beckner (2-1) struck out five batters in four innings as he was the hard luck loser, giving up two earned runs on two hits.
Game 2: Concord 7 – Wheeling Jesuit 2
The Mountain Lions raced out to 6-0 lead after four innings on its way to the victory.
A first-inning RBI from Divers staked junior pitcher
Trent Abernathy out to an early lead. And the advantage would grow for Concord in the third.
The first three runners reached to start the frame including senior outfielder
Evan Webb shooting a double down the left field line to play Stehlin and Simmons. With two outs, Webb scored on sophomore outfielder
Adam Linkous' RBI single to push the lead to 4-0.
Two more runs came across in the fourth as Simmons brought home Stehlin on a sacrifice fly after Stehlin tripled with one out. The second run of the inning came on Divers' second RBI of the nightcap.
With the 6-0 lead, Abernathy tossed 4.2 innings as he came within one strikeout shy—eight—of tying his career high. Abernathy (1-0) allowed two runs on five hits to go along with his eight strikeouts.
The final run of the contest came courtesy of Stehlin launching his first career home in the sixth.
The homer was part of a four-hit, three-run contest as Stehlin finished a single shy of the cycle. Divers and Webb each had two hits and two RBI. Junior infielder
Nathan Neff and Simmons both also notched two hits.
Concord faces West Liberty in a doubleheader back at Wild Things Park 1:00 p.m. Sunday.
