ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team split a doubleheader with Notre Dame Monday afternoon at Anderson Field in Mountain East Conference action, losing 6-3 before bouncing back with a 10-3 victory.
Concord's record now stands at 14-7-1 and 4-2 in MEC play. Notre Dame is 7-15 this season and 4-4 in the conference. The win in game two gave head coach
Kevin Garrett his 500
th career win.
Game 1: Notre Dame 6 – Concord 3
NDC's five-run fifth inning was too much for the Mountain Lions to overcome as the Falcons put Garrett's 500
th win on pause for a bit.
Notre Dame's first-inning run stood up until CU plated a pair of scores in the fourth inning. Junior outfielder
Kyle Keenan and sophomore catcher/infielder
Chris Satcher both singled to start the inning. Now with two outs in the frame, sophomore infielder
Juan Fortique came up with a base hit into center field to plate both runners and give Concord a 2-1 edge.
However, the lead was short lived as the Falcons came back with five runs on just three hits in the top of the next frame.
The Mountain Lions struck again in the sixth as Fortique recorded another two-out run-scoring hit to bring around freshman infielder/pitcher
MJ Hunter who doubled earlier in the inning.
Sophomore infielder
Zack Saryeldin doubled with one out in the seventh, but CU was unable to string a rally together as NDC won by three runs.
Fortique and Saryeldin both had two hits with Fortique being responsible for all three runs. CU outhit Notre Dame, 7-5.
Sophomore pitcher
Eddie Blake (3-2) was the pitcher of record in his first complete game of the season. He gave up five hits and three earned runs while striking out five.
Game 2: Concord 10 – Notre Dame 3
The Concord offense scored seven runs across the third and fourth innings as it backed up another strong performance on the mound from sophomore pitcher
Andrew Neff.
Both teams scored a run in the first and the tie remained until a three-run third for the Mountain Lions. A leadoff error by the Falcons put things in motion as the first four batters reached in the frame. Junior outfielder
Josh Adkins came in on Saryeldin's one-out double before he scored on a two-run home run from fifth-year senior infielder
Anthony Stehlin.
Again in the fourth, Concord got things started with a lead-off double from freshman catcher
Joey Duffer. However, CU had to wait until two outs to do its scoring in the frame. With just one run in—on a balk—Keenan unloaded the bases with a three-run double into center field to expand Concord's lead to 8-1.
NDC scored twice in the top of the fifth, but would no closer. The Mountain Lions plated two runs in the sixth to restore a seven-run edge and won by the same score.
Neff retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced as he held the Falcons down until the fifth inning. The Fredericksburg, Virginia native improved to 4-2 on the season by recording six strikeouts and scattering six hits and three earned runs.
CU got two-hit games from Duffer, Keenan and Saryeldin with both of Saryeldin's hits going for doubles. Keenan notched four RBI and Stehlin added two.
The Mountain Lions welcome Alderson Broaddus to Anderson Field 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.
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