Concord Extends Winning Streak to Six with Saturday Sweep of West Virginia Wesleyan, 8-4, 14-4

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University baseball team defeated West Virginia Wesleyan, 8-4 and 14-4, in the first two games of a Mountain East Conference South Division series Saturday afternoon at Anderson Field.
 
CU improves to 14-21 overall and gets back to .500 at 8-8 in the MEC. West Virginia Wesleyan is now 9-27 on the season and 4-12 in the MEC.
 
Game 1: Concord 8 - WV Wesleyan 4 (Eight Innings)
CU got a walk-off grand slam from sophomore infielder Dawson Maynard in the bottom of the eighth. Maynard unloaded on a high fastball, depositing it over the fence in left center field for his first career home run that secured the 8-4 game one victory in thrilling fashion.
 
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the first two batters reached with a walk to senior outfielder Korbin Bostic before freshman outfielder Jared Lavergne was hit. After a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position, the bases were re-loaded on a walk to set the stage for Maynard.
 
Despite an early run by the Bobcats, redshirt sophomore pitcher Kaden Varela-Payne settled in and recorded six of his first nine outs via the strikeout.
 
In the bottom half of the third with two runners on, senior outfielder Dawson Gragg launched a ball over the fence in right field to give CU a 3-1 lead—it was Concord's first hit of the day. The Mountain Lions added another with freshman outfielder Lucas Cannon coming home on an error.
 
Holding a 4-1 lead, the lead was whittled down to 4-3 in the fifth inning when West Virginia Wesleyan scored twice.
 
The Mountain Lions were unable to stretch the back out as a solo home run by WVWC with two outs in the top of the seventh sent the game to extra innings.
 
Concord managed just three hits in the game with Maynard's grand slam and Gragg's three-run homer being the biggest hits. Junior outfielder Couper Stala notched a single.
 
Junior pitcher Jake Robinson (2-3) came away with the win, tossing 1.1 innings and allowing just one earned run while striking out four batters.
 
Varela-Payne went five innings, giving up three runs and tying his career-high of nine strikeouts. As a pitching staff, Concord set a season-high with 16 strikeouts.
 
Game 2: Concord 14 - WV Wesleyan 4
The Mountain Lions plated 13 runs of their final three at-bats as they cruised past West Virginia Wesleyan to secure the first two games.
 
The CU offense got rolling in the bottom of the fourth after a 1-2-3 top half of the inning from freshman pitcher Jonah Adams. With two aboard, senior catcher Austin Hear crushed his second home run of the season to deep left center field, putting Concord ahead 4-2.
 
Wesleyan answered with a solo home run in the top of the fifth, but the bottom of the fifth proved to be too much for the Bobcats.
 
Concord sent 12 batters to the plate in the frame and brought home seven runs to extend the lead to 11-3. Some highlights included a double from Maynard that scored a run and another Gragg double to bring home two more runs. Cannon tallied two singles in the inning while senior outfielder Korbin Bostic and Hear also singled to total six hits for the Mountain Lions.
 
Some defensive miscues in the field from Wesleyan brought three total runs home for Concord in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead to 14-3. CU had just one hit in the inning, a single by Hear with no outs.
 
Concord's first run came in the bottom of the third as a leadoff double by junior infielder Nick DiSanti came around to score on a double by Gragg with one out.
 
Hear finished with three hits, including the monster home run. Gragg was the other Mountain Lion with three hits, all of which were doubles. DiSanti went 2-for-3, drew two walks and scored a pair of runs. Cannon finished with a pair of hits and stole two bases in the contest.
 
Adams (W2-6) earned the win, giving Concord a strong 4.2 innings, surrendering three runs and striking out three Bobcats.
 
The Mountain Lions play two more with West Virginia Wesleyan starting Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Anderson Field.