BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team won the first two games of a four-game weekend set with West Virginia Wesleyan, 13-3 and 5-3, Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference play at Hank Ellis Field.
Game 1: Concord 13 – West Virginia Wesleyan 3
The Mountain Lions (6-16, 5-13 MEC) scored 10 runs in the first inning, and never looked back in a game one victory.
Junior infielder
Anthony Stehlin got the scoring started as he lifted his fifth home of the season, a two-run shot, out to left field. Freshman infielder
Michael Dupont and sophomore infielder
Juan Fortique followed with run-scoring singles.
With the bases loaded, a run came in to score on a fielder's choice before freshman infielder
Zack Saryeldin cleared the bases with a two-run base knock. Saryeldin would then score for the second time in the inning on Stehlin's second home run of the frame.
Junior outfielder
Brandon Bayne reached on an infield single as Concord tacked on a run in the second inning.
With plenty of run support, senior pitcher
Trent Abernathy retired 11 of the first 12 West Virginia Wesleyan (3-13, 3-13 MEC) batters he faced before the Bobcats were about to get on the board with a pair of runs in the fourth.
After WVWC scored a run in the bottom of the sixth, the Mountain Lions plated their final two runs of the game as junior infielder
Evan Antonellis scored on a Wesleyan error before Fortique drew a bases-loaded walk to plate sophomore outfielder
Richard Ortiz.
Dupont and Stehlin each had three hits in the game with Stehlin driving in four runs. Bayne, Fortique and Saryeldin all had two hits and two RBI.
Abernathy (1-3) scattered seven hits and three runs as he struck out four in a complete-game performance.
Game 2: Concord 5 – West Virginia Wesleyan 3
Concord staked freshman pitcher
Andrew Neff out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as CU completed the doubleheader sweep of the Bobcats.
Back-to-back walks and a single loaded the bases to start the game before Ortiz was hit with a pitch. A second run scored in the first inning on a double play. Dupont, then, singled through the left side with two outs to complete the rally with a third run.
Unfazed, Wesleyan plated two runs in the bottom of the first inning. But, freshman pitcher
Andrew Neff retired the final two batters of the frame that began a string of 11 consecutive Bobcats sat down by the Fredericksburg, Virginia native.
Concord answered Wesleyan's two-run bottom of the first with an important run in the second as Stehlin came around to score on a WVWC error after getting hit with one out.
Each team scored in the fifth as freshman catcher
Nick Funk scored on a two-out single from Fortique after he led off the frame with a double. After Wesleyan scored to bring the tying run to the plate in the fifth, Neff induced a fly out to end the frame.
The Bobcats got a leadoff single in the seventh, and eventually got the winning run to the plate with two outs. However, Stehlin worked a scoreless seventh for his first save of the season.
Neff (1-2) scattered five hits and three runs over six innings while striking out seven.
Offensively, Fortique had two hits and an RBI. Stehlin extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a fourth-inning single as he reached base three times in the contest.
Concord and West Virginia Wesleyan play another doubleheader 1:00 p.m. Sunday.
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