ATHENS, W.Va. – On the strength of five home runs, the Concord University baseball team defeated Salem, 16-10, Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference game at Anderson Field.
After Salem (5-18) plated two runs in the first inning, the Mountain Lions (3-13) wasted no time getting on the board as they loaded the base to star their first at-bat. Sophomore outfielder
Richard Ortiz came to the plate and launched his second grand slam of the season with a drive to right field.
Freshman infielder
Zack Saryeldin followed Ortiz's homer with a solo shot in the second inning to push Concord out to a 5-2 lead.
With Salem only down 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth, CU created separated between itself and Salem with five runs in the frame. Junior infielder
Anthony Stehlin tripled in two runs while two Salem errors allowed three more runs to cross.
SU crawled back to within 10-5, but again the Mountain Lions had an answer with back-to-back solo home runs by Stehlin and junior infielder
Evan Antonellis as part of a three-run fifth inning.
CU stretched its lead out to as much as 15-6 after Ortiz came up with the bases loaded in the sixth—this time producing a two-RBI single. Salem plated four runs in the eighth inning, but Stehlin hit his second home run of the game to make the score 16-10 in the bottom of the inning.
The Mountain Lions totaled season highs in both runs (16) and hits (15) with Wednesday's performance. Stehlin had four hits and four RBI as he finished a single shy of the cycle. Ortiz and Saryeldin each had three hits with Ortiz adding six RBI. Add in Antonellis, and Concord's top four hitters were a combined 11-for-18 with 14 runs scored and 12 RBI.
CU used nine different pitchers to navigate the nine-inning game. Freshman pitcher
Caleb Hare (1-0) picked up the win by tossing a scoreless seventh inning. Freshman pitchers
Eddy Castellanos (second inning) and
Jack Colagiovanni (fourth inning) also pitched clean innings. Freshman utility
Eddie Blake got the final four outs in the game.
The Mountain Lions begin Mountain East Conference South Division play 1:00 p.m. Saturday at West Virginia State.
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