BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Wesleyan baseball team fell to Fairmont State in both games of the doubleheader Monday evening at Hank Ellis Field. The first game was a run scoring affair as FSU won 17-10 and a late comeback by Fairmont State pushed them past WVWC 7-6 in the second game. Wesleyan has now lost nine games in a row.
Game 1
The Bobcats exploded for six runs in the bottom of the first inning, totaling four hits and the Falcon defense surrendered two errors. Devin Johnson plated the first run of the game, scoring Sam Ingram after he kicked the game off getting on first from an error. Thatcher Poteat had an infield single to plate Jack Tilton, who singled earlier in the inning. Another error by the Fairmont State defense allowed two more runs and Ian Donohoe had a two-run single to make it 6-0 after the first.
Fairmont State answered with three runs of their own in the top of the second, scoring runs on a walk, error and a sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to three. In the bottom of the second, back-to-back home runs from Tilton and Johnson put WVWC back up by five. The lead didn’t last much longer with an explosive third inning by Fairmont State put the Falcons up 9-8. FSU added to their lead in the top of the fourth with a one-run single up the middle.
Another run in the top of the fifth by Fairmont on a sacrifice fly gave the Falcons a three-run lead. In the bottom half of the fifth inning, an error by FSU scored two more runs for the Bobcats to once again make it a one-run game. The Falcons created a cushion with a three-run home run in the top of the sixth, making it 14-10. Additional runs came in the top of the seventh on a two-run home run and and a one-run single to left as the Bobcats trailed by seven going into their final at-bats, where they would go down 1-2-3 to end the game.
There were six different Falcons who had an RBI, including four that had two or more. Connor Crammer picked up his second win of the season for FSU.
Donohoe, Eddie Rueda and Johnson all had two RBIs for the Bobcats as Johnson and Tilton also had two hits each. Four different pitchers came in for Wesleyan with Robbie Baker taking the loss.
Game 2
An Ingram single and Tilton doubled to put two runners in scoring position for Johnson early on. Johnson plated Ingram on a groundout as WVWC took a 1-0 lead after one inning. Fairmont took the lead rather quickly, scoring two runs in the top of the second on an error. In the bottom of the second, Rueda, Julio Aguilar and Preston Todd hit consecutive singles to load the bases for Donohoe who hit a grand slam to make it 5-2.
Fairmont State started to chip into the lead the following inning, hitting a sacrifice fly to center to score a run. The Falcons then cut into it again in the top of the fourth on a one-run double to the left-center gap, trimming the Bobcat lead to just one. Wesleyan answered in the bottom of the fourth when Ingram came across home on an error by the left fielder. FSU scored a run in the fifth and sixth inning to make it a tie game going into the seventh inning.
A double and a one-run single gave the Falcons the lead in the top of the seventh inning. Down to their last at-bats, the Bobcats had two strikeouts and a ground out to end the game as Fairmont State won 7-6.
Five separate Falcons recorded an RBI and three different Falcons had two hits each. Alex Seymour was the winning pitcher as he came in relief, dishing out two strikeouts pitching only 1 1/3 innings.
Donohoe’s grand slam led the Bobcats as he went 2-3. Broderick Rohrbaugh took the loss, giving up seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits and striking out three in 6 1/3 innings.
Up Next For The Bobcats
Wesleyan will be on short rest as they travel to West Virginia State on Friday to kick off a four-game series with the Yellow Jackets, with the first game starting at 1 p.m.
