ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team swept UVa.-Wise, 8-0 and 6-1, on Senior Day at Anderson Field in Mountain East Conference action.
CU tallies its sixth 30-win season in program history as it improves to 31-15 overall and 19-11 in the MEC. UVa.-Wise falls to 25-23 this season and is also 19-11 in the conference.
Game 1: Concord 8 – UVa.-Wise 0
The Mountain Lions jumped out to a 4-0 lead through three innings and coasted to an 8-0 victory behind 11 strikeouts from senior pitcher
Will Guay who threw his second straight shutout.
Guay struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced in the contest and retired 11 in a row to begin the game as senior catcher
Jordan Clark helped his battery mate out at the plate. Clark was responsible for a sacrifice fly that scored sophomore infielder
Anthony Stehlin in the first.
In the third, Clark and senior outfielder
Evan Webb put together back-to-back RBI hits including the 40
th career double from Clark to push CU ahead 3-0. Clark scored later in the inning on junior outfielder Adam Linkou's two-out base hit.
Another Clark sacrifice fly in the fourth extended the Concord advantage before another three-run frame in the sixth. Webb followed senior infielder
Brett Simmons' RBI double with a single to bring in the Callaway, Virginia native. The Mountain Lions collected a third sacrifice fly in the contest as junior infielder
Nathan Neff's fly ball scored Webb after he had advanced to third on Clark's second double of the game.
After his exceptional start to the game, Guay went on to strike out four more Cavaliers to set a career high in strikeouts while allowing just three hits and issuing one walk. Guay improved to 6-2 on the season.
Clark and Webb combined to go 5-for-5 with three extra-base hits and five RBI. Stehlin set the tone at the top of the order with four hits and four runs scored.
Game 2: Concord 6 – UVa.-Wise 1
Concord scored the final six runs of the contest as they erased an early 1-0 deficit in the sweep of UVa.-Wise.
All six runs for the Mountain Lions came in the first three innings with the first two coming on Webb's eighth home run of the season in the bottom of the first as CU took over the lead.
Junior outfielder
Ryan Fralin and junior catcher
Jakob Divers both reached base via a single and a walk to begin the second inning and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from senior infielder
Ian Southcott. A sacrifice fly from Stehlin brought in Fralin with Divers following behind after a throwing error by UVa.-Wise.
A defensive miscue aided the CU scoring in the third inning. After Linkous had brought in Clark on a base hit earlier in the inning, the Blacksburg, Virginia native hustled in after a dropped pop up in shallow left field.
After allowing a run in the first inning, senior pitcher
Troy Beckner scattered five hits and shut down the Cavaliers in his final 5.2 innings as he went a total of 6.2 innings with seven hits and one run. Beckner fanned five hitters to move to 6-2 this season. Linkouks came on in relief to record the final out of the game.
Clark had two more hits in the nightcap. Webb added three RBI. Fralin notched three hits.
To secure an MEC Tournament bid, Concord needs one win at UVa.-Wise on Sunday. The teams begin their doubleheader 3:00 p.m. from Stallard Field.
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