Concord Secures Fourth Straight Series Win with Doubleheader Split at Charleston

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The Concord University baseball team split a Sunday doubleheader with Charleston to win their fourth straight Mountain East Conference South Division series, losing 8-1 before bouncing back with a 4-3 come-from-behind win, at the Welch Athletic Complex.
 
 Game 1: Charleston 8 - Concord 1
The Mountain Lions (22-24, 16-10 MEC) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Senior outfielder Dawson Gragg singled to the opposite field, moving junior infielder Nick DiSanti to third. With runners at the corners, freshman outfielder Lucas Cannon put a ball in play to score DiSanti on the groundout.
 
The Golden Eagles (19-26, 16-10 MEC) responded with a run in the bottom half of the first inning.
 
Charleston took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning after scoring three more runs, and tacked on four more later in the contest.
 
Out of the bullpen, freshman pitchers Brogan Dent and Casey Thomas tossed scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth innings respectively.
 
Concord had just one hit, the single from Gragg in the first inning with Cannon driving in the lone run.
 
Senior pitcher Kerry Collins (2-4) was tagged with the loss. The starter went 2.2 innings, giving up six hits and four earned runs.
 
Game 2: Concord 4 - Charleston 3
CU fell in a 2-0 hole, but battled back to tie the game in the fifth before taking the lead in the sixth inning.
 
With two runners on and two outs in the fifth inning, Gragg rose to the occasion. The Christiansburg, Virginia native drilled a double to center field, tying the game at 2-2 as the DiSanti brothers, Nick and senior infielder Matthew DiSanti raced in. Both batters reached after two quick outs in the frame.
 
After blanking UC in the bottom half of the sixth, thanks to some good pitching from freshman pitcher Kevin Knight and junior pitcher Ryder Wagenknecht, the Concord offense kept its momentum going into the top of the sixth.
 
With the bases loaded, the Mountain Lions capitalized on a fielder's choice by freshman outfielder Jared Lavergne and a balk by the UC pitching staff to make it 4-2.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, the Golden Eagles cut into the lead, 4-3. However, senior pitcher Logan Darrow stranded the tying run on third base to end the rally.
 
Looking to seal the series win in the bottom of the seventh, Darrow recorded the first out. Dent, the left-handed specialist for CU, did his job by getting a strikeout looking. And the seventh pitch of the at-bat, graduate pitcher Joseph Hastings got a groundout to give Concord the gutsy win, 4-3.
 
Gragg went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. M. DiSanti ended the contest with a pair of singles.
 
Darrow (4-2) received the victory after his successful outing out of the bullpen in which he tossed 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out a batter. Hastings picked up his first save of the season, recording the final out and securing Concord's first series win over Charleston since 2015.
 
Graduate pitcher Rylee Nicholas had his longest outing of the year as he allowed five hits and two runs over four innings.
 
The Mountain Lions return home for the first two games in the series against Glenville State this Friday at 1:00 p.m. at Anderson Field.