ELKINS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team was victorious in the first two games of a four-game road series at Davis & Elkins, 7-0 and 3-1, Friday afternoon in Mountain East Conference action at Harpertown Field.

Concord is now 10-21 on the season and 4-8 against MEC foes. D&E falls to 4-25 this year and 2-10 in the MEC.

Game 1: Concord 7 – Davis & Elkins 0
Concord jumped out to a 5-0 lead after four innings, and sophomore pitcher Kaden Varela-Payne took over on the mound.

Three straight batters reached base with one out in the top of the second to load the bases. The next batter, freshman outfielder Lucas Cannon, reached on an error, to bring in senior infielder Sam Stowe who had doubled earlier in the fame. Junior infielder Nick DiSanti followed with a single to plate senior catcher Austin Hear and take the lead to 2-0.

CU did not score again until the fourth inning, but DiSanti was in the middle of the rally once again. The Mountain Lions loaded the bases on an error, a walk and a single for DiSanti to unload them with a double to center field.

Meanwhile, Varela-Payne retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced. He was able to work around a two-on, two-out situation in the bottom of the fourth inning with one of his eight strikeouts in the game.
Varela-Payne faced the minimum in the fifth thanks to a double play, and punched out two more batters in the sixth to strand a pair of runners.

To finish the day, Varela-Payne retired the Senators in order in the seventh. He improved to 4-4 on the season by scattering four hits and striking out eight.

Concord's offense supplied two more runs in the top of the seventh on a two-RBI base hit by junior infielder Alex Rodriguez, scoring senior infielder Tyson Burke and Stowe.

DiSanit was 2-for-5 with a double and four RBI. Rodriguez tallied two hits and two RBI. Stowe was 2-for-4 with a double.

Game 2: Concord 3 – Davis & Elkins 1
The strong pitching carried over to game two with freshman Jonah Adams dazzling, and the CU offense did enough to secure a day one sweep.

A one-out error by D&E in the top of the second inning allowed senior outfielder Dawson Gragg to race home after he led off the inning with one of his four hits on the day.

In the third, Concord was able to scratch across two more tallies. Gragg rolled a single through the right side of the infield to bring in senior infielder Matthew DiSanti. Two batter later—after CU had loaded the bases—Stowe scampered home on a wild pitch.

Adams was in control of the game from the start as he started his own double, 1-4-3, in the bottom of the first. He stranded a total of four runners on base over the next two innings, including racking up a pair of strikeouts in the third to work around a Davis & Elkins rally.

The Senators did score once in the fourth inning, but it was as close as Davis & Elkins would get.

D&E brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, but senior pitcher Ryder Wagenknecht induced a pop up to second base to secure the win, and in the process collect his second save of the year.  

Adams (1-6) went 6.1 innings as he scattered seven hits and a run while striking out five.

Gragg went 4-for-4 for his second four-hit game of the season. He accounted for four of the six hits in the game for Concord.

The Mountain Lions go for the series win with another doubleheader at Davis & Elkins 1:00 p.m. Saturday.