ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team lost two games to West Virginia State, 6-5 and 9-4, in Mountain East Conference action Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field.
Concord drops to 24-14 overall and 15-7 in the MEC. WVSU is also 15-7 in the league and 23-15 overall.
Game 1: West Virginia State 6 – Concord 5 (Nine Innings)
A ninth-inning home run by the Yellow Jackets was the difference after CU forced extra innings with its own home run in the bottom of the sixth.
Concord trailed throughout as they faced deficits of 2-0, 4-1 and 5-3.
The Mountain Lions split the 2-0 deficit in half as graduate infielder
Daniel Layne was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second. Trailing 4-1 in the fourth, Layne came up with an RBI single to plate sophomore utility
Dawson Gragg.
After a solo home run by WVSU in the top of the fifth extended the lead back to three runs, Gragg's RBI single in the bottom of the inning reduced the deficit to a pair of runs.
A one-out walk to junior outfielder
Demetri Jamison in the bottom of the sixth brought the tying run to the plate, and senior infielder
Chris Satcher unloaded his 12
th home run of the season to left field.
Both teams had base runners in the eighth, but was unable to push anything across. A leadoff home run in the top of the ninth gave West Virginia State a 6-5 edge. CU pieced together a rally in the bottom of the ninth as back-to-back two-out singles put the tying run at third base, but WVSU escaped with the win.
Gragg was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Freshman catcher
Marshall Basham went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Satcher had a multi-hit game as he was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Junior utility
MJ Hunter (0-1) was the loser in relief as he pitched 3.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits. Junior pitcher
Rylee Nicholas tossed the first 5.2 innings as he struck out six and only one of his five runs were earned.
Game 2: West Virginia State 9 – Concord 4
Concord was unable to stop the West Virginia State offense in the latter innings as CU let a 4-1 lead slip away.
Two runs came across for CU in the bottom of the first as Hunter led off the game with a triple before scoring on a groundout. Senior infielder
Michael Dupont brought in Satcher on a two-out hit after Satcher doubled in front of Dupont's at-bat.
The lead grew to 4-1 in the third inning as Satcher came up with an RBI single, and Dupont followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Jamison who had his own base knock in the inning.
WVSU tallied two runs in the fifth before a groundout ended the rally, and kept Concord in front, 4-3. But, the Yellow Jackets struck for five runs in the top of the sixth to gain an 8-4 advantage before winning by five runs.
In the middle of the lineup, Jamison and Satcher were both 2-for-3 with a run scored. Satcher added an RBI. Dupont collected two RBI.
Freshman pitcher
Jake Robinson went five innings as he recorded four strikeouts and gave up three runs on seven hits. The pitcher of record was graduate student
Nick Sanso (0-1) who allowed two runs out of the bullpen.
Concord faces MEC South Division leader Charleston for the start of a four-game road series 5:00 p.m. Friday.
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