MORGANTOWN — West Virginia Wesleyan battled its way to a split in Sunday’s Mountain East Conference doubleheader against Fairmont State, using a fast-starting offense to claim an 8-6 win in the opener before the Falcons took the second game, 6-1, at Dale Miller Field in Morgantown.
In Game 1, Wesleyan wasted no time jumping on the scoreboard. Grant Shumaker singled to start the game, and after Isaac Lough and Matthew Neach moved into scoring position with a double steal, Josiah Segura drove home two with a double to left. Dylan Neach followed with an RBI single, and Carter Collins later came around as the Bobcats built a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. Fairmont State answered with five runs in the bottom half, but Wesleyan quickly regained control.
The Bobcats responded in the third inning when Collins launched a two-run homer to left, scoring Segura and putting Wesleyan back in front, 6-5. An inning later, Shumaker doubled down the left-field line and came home on Lough’s RBI triple to right, extending the lead to 7-5. Wesleyan added an insurance run in the fifth when Collins singled, Shumaker followed with another base hit, and Coleman Cross delivered an RBI single up the middle to make it 8-5.
Collins paced the Wesleyan offense in Game 1 by going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Shumaker also went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored, while Segura finished 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs, two runs scored, and a walk. Lough added a triple, an RBI, and two stolen bases as part of a 1-for-4 afternoon, and Dylan Neach chipped in a hit and an RBI. The Bobcats finished with 12 hits and five walks in the win.
On the mound, Alex Hernandez went the distance to earn the win, scattering 11 hits over seven innings while allowing six runs, five earned, with one walk and one strikeout. After Fairmont State’s five-run first inning, Hernandez settled in and kept the Falcons from mounting a comeback, blanking Fairmont in the second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh innings and allowing just a single run in the fifth. He needed 108 pitches to secure the complete-game victory.
Fairmont State took control in Game 2 behind strong pitching and timely late offense. Anthony Hernandez kept the Falcons mostly in check early, and the game remained scoreless through three innings before Fairmont broke through in the fourth on an RBI single by R Bubb. The Falcons added another run in the fifth when C Cole stole second and later scored on a B Green RBI single to make it 2-0.
Wesleyan cut the deficit in half in the sixth. Alex Smith singled to open the inning, Chase Gora entered as a pinch runner, and Malik Wood reached on a sacrifice bunt that turned into an error. After Gora moved to third, Lough came through with an RBI single to score Wesleyan’s lone run of the game. Fairmont, however, answered decisively in the bottom half with a four-run inning, using a walk, catcher’s interference, a two-run double from Cole, and a sacrifice fly from Green to stretch the lead to 6-1.
Lough accounted for Wesleyan’s only RBI in the second game and finished 1-for-3. Dylan Neach and Alex Smith also recorded hits for the Bobcats, who were limited to three hits overall. Matthew Neach drew Wesleyan’s only walk, while the Falcons turned two double plays to help keep the Bobcats from building momentum.
Anthony Hernandez took the loss despite a solid five-inning start, allowing two runs on five hits with three strikeouts. Drake Long worked into the sixth before Fairmont State pulled away, and Bryson Peffer recorded the final two outs. Fairmont’s D. Travinski earned the win, allowing just one unearned run over 5.2 innings while striking out five.
With the split, West Virginia Wesleyan moved to 8-22 overall and 3-8 in MEC play across the day, while Fairmont State finished the twinbill at 13-11 overall and 7-5 in conference action.
The Bobcats host a pair of doubleheaders going into the Easter weekend against West Virginia State University. Both Friday and Saturday games, April 3 – 4, begin at 1 p.m.
