ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team lost a pair of games to West Virginia State, 14-7, 7-6, Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference doubleheader at Cal Bailey Field.
CU is now 22-19 this season and 13-9 against MEC foes. West Virginia State goes to .500 at 19-19 overall and 11-11 in the conference.
Game 1: West Virginia State 14 – Concord 7
Concord jumped out to a 7-3 lead through its first three at-bats, but could not keep pace with the West Virginia State offense in the latter innings.
Down 2-1 in the second inning, the Mountain Lions used a three-run frame to gain a 4-2 edge. Junior outfielder
Korbin Bostic was hit by a pitch with one out before senior infielder
Tyson Burke stepped up and crushed his first of two home runs in the game. Later in the inning, senior infielder
Demetri Jamison raced home on an RBI single from sophomore infielder
Nick DiSanti.
CU tacked on three more in the third inning. Junior catcher
Austin Hear unloaded on his seventh home run of the season with two outs. Bostic followed by getting hit for the second time in the contest which set up Burke to hit his second two-run home run of the game to take the lead to 7-3.
However, the Yellow Jackets tied the game in the bottom of the third, and took the lead in the bottom of the fourth, 10-7. That was after Concord was unable to produce anything with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth.
Burke was 2-for-4 with four RBI in what was his first career multi-home run game. DiSanti added a 2-for-3 afternoon. Junior catcher
Kaden Swaim swatted his MEC-best 13
th home run of the season in the first inning.
Junior pitcher
Kerry Collins (2-1) was the pitcher of record as he allowed six runs in 3.1 innings of relief.
Game 2: West Virginia State 7 – Concord 6 (Eight Innings)
The Mountain Lions built another multi-run lead in the middle innings only to see WVSU collect its second walkoff win of the series.
Hear got CU off to a hot start as he belted a three-run home run with two outs in the top of the first. Concord took the lead to 4-0 in the second on a DiSanti single that brought in Jamison.
West Virginia State answered with a run in the bottom of the second as the lead remained three until the fourth when the Yellow Jackets got within 4-2.
But, the Mountain Lions were quick to respond as junior infielder
Matthew DiSanti notched an RBI single that scored his brother, Nick, after he led off the frame with his own base knock.
In the sixth, West Virginia State cut the margin to 5-4 before grabbing a 6-5 edge in the bottom of the sixth. Needing a run in the top of the seventh, Concord tied the game.
Senior utility
MJ Hunter walked before Swaim cracked single to right field. WVSU appeared it may escape with a double play, but Hear's two-out infield single allowed Hunter to touch home.
Graduate pitcher
Zach Powell stranded the game-winning run at second in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game to extra innings.
CU did not threaten in the top of the eighth, and a sacrifice fly scored the game-winning run for WVSU in the bottom of the eighth.
Hear was 2-for-4 with four RBI. Senior infielder
Brendan Brady, Burke and N. DiSanti all added two hits a piece in the game.
Powell (5-6) was the loser in relief. Sophomore pitcher
Jake Robinson tossed six innings as he allowed six runs and struck out seven.
The Mountain Lions play seven of their final nine regular season at Anderson Field, starting 3:00 p.m. Tuesday against nationally-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne. Â
Â
