ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team took the first two games of a Mountain East Conference South Division series from 14
th-ranked Charleston Sunday afternoon by winning 10-7 and 10-9 at Anderson Field.
Game 1: Concord 10 – Charleston 7
The Mountain Lions (13-17, 12-14 MEC) chased the lead throughout game one before scoring the final three runs of the contest to secure a win.
Tied at 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth, Concord loaded the bases to start the inning with two singles and a walk. Freshman catcher
Nick Funk's sacrifice fly got junior infielder
Anthony Stehlin in to give CU its first lead of the game. After a wild pitch moved everyone up 90 feet, junior infielder
Evan Antonellis scored on another sacrifice fly before sophomore infielder
Juan Fortique came up with a two-out single for more run support.
Charleston (28-6, 22-4 MEC) brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh, but Stehlin retired three straight batters to extinguish the rally.
The game was tied at two, four and seven with Charleston taking leads at 2-0, 4-2 and 7-4 before six unanswered runs by Concord.
A Charleston error allowed CU to tie the game in the first. Down 4-2 in the third, Stehlin cracked his seventh home run of the season—a two-run shot out to left field. Freshman infielder
Zack Saryeldin matched Stehlin's two-run blast with his own two-run home run in a three-run fourth inning that helped the Mountain Lions tie the game.
Concord's 1-4 hitters of Saryeldin, Stehlin, Antonellis and sophomore outfielder
Richard Ortiz were a combined 9-for-14 in the game with eight runs scored.
Senior pitcher
Trent Abernathy (3-3) gave up six earned runs in six innings as he tallied his 200
th career strikeout with a sixth-inning punchout. Stehlin recorded his second save of the season.
Game 2: Concord 10 – Charleston 9
Another late-inning rally propelled CU to a day one sweep of the Golden Eagles.
Trailing 9-6 into the bottom of the sixth, the Mountain Lions plated four runs in what was their final at-bat of the day. Three of the first four batters reached to begin the rally to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. An RBI groundout brought home sophomore outfielder
Josh Adkins as CU got within 9-7, but with two outs in the sixth.
After Oritz was intentionally walked to reload the bases, Saryeldin raced home on a wild pitch as it moved the go-ahead run into scoring position. During the same at-bat, Funk steered a two-run double down the left field line to push Concord in front by a run.
Again, Stehlin came in and shut the door on the Golden Eagles as he retired the side in order to secure his second save of the day.
The Mountain Lions were up 3-1 after three on an RBI double from Antonellis and a run-scoring single by Ortiz, and regained a 6-4 advantage in the bottom of the fourth after Saryeldin hit a three-run homer.
Charleston brought in five runs in the fifth to match its largest lead of the day in either game, a three-run advantage.
Freshman pitcher
Jack Colagiovanni (1-0) got the win in relief as he kept the deficit at three, allowing Concord to climb back into the lead with the sixth-inning rally. Colagiovanni worked 1.2 innings as he retired all five batters he faced.
Freshman pitcher
Andrew Neff struck out five in four innings as he allowed four earned runs.
Saryeldin was 2-for-3 with three RBI at the top of the order. He finished the doubleheader 5-for-7 with two home runs and five RBI. Adkins and Ortiz each had two hits while Antonellis and Funk each recorded two RBI.
CU and Charleston finish their four-game series 1:00 p.m. Sunday with a doubleheader.
Â
