CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team split the first two games of a Mountain East Conference series with Charleston Saturday afternoon at Triana Field as CU won the first game 2-0 before falling in the nightcap, 9-2.
Game 1: Concord 2 – Charleston 0
Senior pitcher
Will Guay took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and senior outfielder
Evan Webb's two-run single in the first inning held up for CU (27-14, 16-10 MEC) in the win.
After senior infielder
Brett Simmons singled and was followed by a walk issued to sophomore infielder
Anthony Stehlin in the first, Webb came up with two outs. The Whitby, Ontario native rolled an 0-2 single past the Charleston (29-15, 21-5 MEC) shortstop to give Concord the early two-run advantage.
Staked out to the early 2-0 lead, Guay retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced with the only hiccups coming in the way of a two-out first inning walk and a two-out error in the third. After issuing a one-out walk in the fourth, Guay quickly escaped any trouble by inducing an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play.
The West Palm Beach, Florida promptly retired the side in order in the fifth and struck out the first two batters of the sixth, standing just four outs away from a no-hitter. After hitting UC's Brice Arrington, Guay faced Colby Johnson where he was able to sneak a single past the outreached glove of Guay and into center field for the first hit of the game. With the tying run on base, Guay induced a pop up to end the threat.
Guay surrendered a two-out single in the seventh, but recorded the final out to preserve the win. Guay improved to 5-3 on the season as he struck out seven in his two-hit shutout. The senior becomes the first CU pitcher to toss a complete game while giving up two hits or less since joining the MEC in 2013-14.
Webb drove in two runs while Simmons had two hits in the contest.
Game 2: Charleston 9 – Concord 2
The Golden Eagles scored four runs in the bottom of the third to break a 1-1 tie.
Charleston plated their first run of the day with an RBI groundout in the first. However, CU answered back as junior outfielder
Ryan Fralin came in to score on a UC error after cracking a one-out single in the third.
But the tie was short-lived as Charleston plated four runs in the third on just one hit. Three batters were hit in the frame while another walked. The Mountain Lions got a late run in the seventh as freshman infielder
Ryan Meister got an RBI that scored junior catcher
Jakob Divers.
Fralin and Meister each had two hits.
Freshman pitcher
Sidney Willis (1-3) tossed 4.1 innings in the loss as he gave up eight runs.
Concord and UC finish up the four-game series 1:00 p.m. Sunday. Â
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