ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team swept the first two games of a four-game set against West Virginia Wesleyan, 6-2 and 17-8, Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference play at Anderson Field.
The Mountain Lions improve to 21-9 overall and 11-7 in the conference with the wins. Wesleyan drops to 14-22 and 7-11 in the league.
Game 1: Concord 6 – West Virginia Wesleyan 2
The Mountain Lions plated four runs in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie as it went on to win the game.
Locked up at 2-2 since the bottom of the third, Concord was down to its final out with a man in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth before senior outfielder
Evan Webb shot a single into right field to provide the go-ahead RBI hit, scoring senior infielder
Brett Simmons. Senior catcher
Jordan Clark followed with an RBI knock to plate Webb before junior outfielder
Ryan Fralin capped the rally with a two-out double.
A leadoff single by the Bobcats in the seventh brought junior outfielder
Adam Linkous to the mound where he would strand the bases loaded with a game-ending strikeout.
CU trailed in the game 2-0 before two runs crossed in the bottom of the third. Linkous recorded an RBI triple before scoring on Simmons' RBI single, all with two outs.
Senior pitcher
Will Guay improved to 3-3 as he went six innings while allowing six hits and two runs to go with six strikeouts.
Six different players accounted for the six Concord hits as five came with runners in scoring position and all six came with two outs.
The game one win was the 450
th career victory for head coach
Kevin Garrett.
Game 2: Concord 17 – West Virginia Wesleyan 8
Concord scored 12 combined runs in the fourth and fifth innings as it cruised to a sweep of WVWC.
CU jumped out quickly as it owned a 5-1 advantage after three innings. Linkous and Simmons had back-to-back doubles to start the first inning while Clark drove in two runs with a two-out, two-RBI double in the third inning.
Holding the four-run advantage, the Mountain Lions widened its margin in a five-run fourth inning that saw junior catcher
Jakob Divers drive in two runs on a double to left field. Simmons also had his second run-scoring double of the game in the rally.
Concord needed just three hits in a seven-run fifth inning. CU drew consecutive bases-loaded walks before junior infielder
Nathan Neff was hit by a pitch with the bases full. Fralin aided in the scoring as well as he had a two-run single—part of a three-RBI contest for the Roanoke, Virginia native.
Wesleyan was able to draw a little closer in the sixth with five runs, but Linkous closed the game again with consecutive flyouts and a line drive out to Webb at first.
The eight and nine hitters for Concord, freshman catcher
Chance Davis and Fralin, each had three RBI. Clark added three RBI even with a batting line of 1-for-1 with three walks. Fralin had a team-best four hits. Simmons had three hits and two RBI.
Sophomore pitcher
Logan Morrison improved to 5-2 by tossing four innings. Morrison allowed two runs on four hits while striking out four.
Concord and Wesleyan conclude their series 1:00 p.m. Sunday at Anderson Field.
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