INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team picked up a doubleheader split with West Virginia State, losing 8-7 before grabbing a 9-3 win, in a pair of Mountain East Conference games at Cal Bailey Field Monday afternoon.
Game 1: West Virginia State 8 – Concord 7
WVSU (15-7, 12-4 MEC) scored six runs in the third inning before holding off the hard-charging Mountain Lions (4-16, 3-13 MEC) late in the game.
CU took the first lead of the contest on an RBI single from junior infielder
Evan Antonellis that plated fellow junior infielder
Anthony Stehlin in the first inning. The lead stood up until West Virginia State's third-inning rally.
The Mountain Lions answered the Yellow Jackets' scoring in the fourth as they manufactured two runs with junior outfielder
Brandon Bayne and senior infielder
Trevor Wimmer picking up RBI.
Down 8-3 in the fifth inning after West Virginia State scored twice in the fourth, Concord strung together three consecutive one-out hits as sophomore infielder
Juan Fortique brought in sophomore outfielder
Richard Ortiz.
Three more runs crossed in the sixth for CU. Wimmer collected his second RBI of the day, scoring freshman catcher
Nick Funk who led off the inning with a walk. Wimmer raced home on a run-scoring knock from Ortiz. Between hits was a wild pitch that brought in Bayne who had doubled behind Funk's walk.
WVSU escaped the sixth with a one-run lead still intact.
Fortique led off the seventh with a single and the tying run was pushed to second base, but West Virginia State stranded the runner to end the game.
Concord's 4-6 hitters of Ortiz, freshman infielder
Michael Dupont and Fortique were a combined 6-for-12 with three runs scored, and two RBI. Bayne added two more hits at the bottom of the order.
Junior pitcher
Dan Nicholls (0-4) went two innings as he allowed five runs while striking out four.
Game 2: Concord 9 – West Virginia State 3
The Mountain Lions used their own big third inning to manage a Monday split with West Virginia State.
Just like game one, Antonellis gave CU a 1-0 lead in the first inning as he blasted his third home run of the season to left field.
In the third inning, Funk came up with the bases loaded and poked a single down the left field line to score two runners, elevating the lead to 3-0. Funk, along with Ortiz, would score during the next at-bat as Fortique ripped a double into center field.
A WVSU error pushed sophomore outfielder
Josh Adkins into scoring position for junior catcher
Chance Davis who plated Adkins with a single before scoring himself on a base hit from Bayne.
With plenty of run support, freshman utility
Eddie Blake settled into his first collegiate start as he sat down 11 of the first 13 batters he faced in the game.
WVSU was able to get a run off Blake in the fifth inning before scoring two more in the sixth inning before consecutive strikeouts from freshman pitcher
Nick Herrerias extinguished the threat.
Fortique supplied some insurance in the top of the seventh as his single brought in Stehlin and Ortiz to push the lead back to six runs.
Antonellis was 3-for-3 with a walk and the home run. Fortique was 2-for-4 with a career-best four RBI, and for the doubleheader the Lake Noha, Florida native was 4-for-8 with five RBI. Ortiz added two hits while Funk had two RBI.
Stehlin extended his hitting streak to 17 games by collecting a third-inning single.
Blake (1-0) allowed just the one run on three hits to go with three strikeouts in five innings.
Concord continues its MEC road trip when it visits West Virginia Wesleyan 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
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