ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team went 1-1 versus Notre Dame Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field in Mountain East Conference play as it won game one, 12-2, but lost the nightcap, 6-3.
Game 1: Concord 12 – Notre Dame 2
Concord (11-5, 5-3 MEC) jumped out to a 5-0 first-inning lead on Notre Dame and never looked back.
Sophomore infielder
Anthony Stehlin led off the bottom of the first with a double down the left field line. The next batter, senior infielder
Brett Simmons, sent a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for his first home run of the season. Also in the first inning rally was RBI from junior infielder
Nathan Neff, senior infielder
Ian Southcott and junior outfielder
Adam Linkous.
Senior outfielder
Evan Webb provided some insurance in the second inning as his single scored Simmons who had led off the frame with a double—his second of four extra-base hits. Another double, this time by junior outfielder
Ryan Fralin in the fourth, got Webb across home plate after he led off the inning with a walk.
The Mountain Lions plated three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth for the final margin of victory as Simmons and senior catcher
Jordan Clark were responsible for all five RBI.
Simmons had two doubles, a triple and a home run as part of his four-hit game to go along with four RBI. Clark added two hits and a bases-clearing double in the fifth for all three of his RBI. At the bottom of the order, Linkous was a perfect 3-for-3.
Junior pitcher
Trent Abernathy was stellar on the mound as he tossed six innings, allowing eight hits, two runs and striking out seven. Dating back to last season, Abernathy has won his last seven MEC starts.
Game 2: Notre Dame 6 – Concord 3
After falling behind 5-1 through four innings, Concord was unable to complete the comeback as it settled for a split with NDC.
The Falcons jumped ahead with the four-run advantage on two runs in the first inning and three more in the fourth while CU's only score was a run-scoring single back through the box by Southcott in the second.
Linkous came in to score on a groundout in the fifth after he recorded a one-out double earlier in the inning. Faced with a 6-2 deficit in the bottom of the seventh, the Mountain Lions loaded the bases with no outs. Simmons was able to lift a sacrifice fly into left field to get pincher and junior outfielder
Connor Boothe home. However, the Falcons turned a double play to minimize the CU rally.
Simmons drove in two of the three runs for Concord. Linkous and Neff each had two hits.
Sophomore pitcher
Logan Morrison (3-1) was charged with the loss as he allowed three earned runs on six hits in four innings.
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