ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team rallied from deficits in both games against Fairmont State as it swept a doubleheader, 6-5 and 4-3, Monday afternoon in Mountain East Conference action at Anderson Field.
The Mountain Lions improve to 8-11 overall and are 4-0 MEC games. FSU falls to 2-15 overall and 1-3 versus the league.
Game 1: Concord 6 – Fairmont State 5
After falling behind 3-0 early on, Concord scored four runs in the third before holding off Fairmont State late in the game.
The Fighting Falcons plated three runs in the first inning to race out to an early lead.
With just one base runner through the first eight plate appearances of the game, the Mountain Lions woke up in the third inning. Back-to-back singles paved the way for graduate outfielder
Josh Adkins to drive in sophomore utility
MJ Hunter on a single to left center field with two outs.
The next batter, junior infielder
Chris Satcher, connected on his second home run of the season—a three-run shot out to left field to give CU its first lead of the day.
Fairmont State responded in the fifth as it tied the game at 4-4 on a one-out single.
But, Concord wasn't done as it pieced together a rally in the sixth. The first two batters reached before a sacrifice bunt moved a pair into scoring position. Hunter was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Junior infielder
Zack Saryeldin received the same fate to bring in the go-ahead run, and a sacrifice fly from junior infielder
Daniel Layne provided some insurance.
A two-out double was followed by an error in the seventh to reduce CU's advantage to 6-5. However, the Mountain Lions escaped with a groundout to end the game.
Junior pitcher
Eddie Blake (2-3) came in from the bullpen in the first inning and controlled the Fairmont State lineup as he allowed just two unearned runs on five hits while striking out seven. Blake retired 10 of the first 11 he faced as he tossed 6.2 innings.
Satcher drove in three runs.
Game 2: Concord 4 – Fairmont State 3
CU collected its first walkoff win of the season as it scored twice in the bottom of the seventh.
Down 3-2 and also down to their last out, the Mountain Lions kept fighting. With the tying run at third base, a ground ball to FSU's third baseman by junior outfielder
D.J. Christian turned into an overthrow at first base to plate freshman outfielder
Dawson Gragg.
The game's winning run, graduate outfielder
Kyle Keenan advanced to third on the error. Sophomore infielder
Brendan Brady then stepped in and lined up a single fair down the right field line for the walkoff victory.
Early on the game turned into a pitcher's dual between Fairmont State's Jacob Young and the CU's duo of Brady and Hunter.
Concord's defense turned two double plays in the first three innings to shut down the Fighting Falcons, but FSU finally broke through in the fourth against Brady. CU came alive in the fifth with two runs.
A leadoff double from Saryeldin began the rally before Adkins singled two batters later. A groundout plated Saryeldin. And Keenan came up with a clutch two-out triple to bring Adkins in.
Brady, Keenan and Saryeldin all had two hits with Keenan tallying his first triple of the season.
Senior pitcher
Andrew Neff (4-1) was the pitcher of record as he tossed a scoreless inning of relief in the seventh, notching two strikeouts. Hunter went 2.1 innings with two strikeouts to begin the game.
CU visits Notre Dame 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
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