SALEM — West Virginia Wesleyan College traveled to Salem University for a non-conference doubleheader Saturday and came away with a last inning loss 6-5, and a second game victory 4-1.
In game one, the Tigers jumped all over the Bobcats early, pushing four across the plate in the bottom of first on a two-run single by Nathan Kuhn and a two-run homer by Jacob Hurley.
But the Bobcats crawled back into the game in the third inning and took the lead in fourth. In the third, Kohei Fujushita scored on an error by Salem catcher Tyler Shinn when Malik Wood stole second, then Jack Tilton singled to score Wood and the ‘Cats were down by one.
In the fourth, Wesleyan put up three quick runs when Fujushita hit a three-run home run scoring Turner and Ryan Drag.
After a scoreless fifth and top of the sixth, Wesleyan replaced starter Eli Brogan with Drake Long who could not keep the Tigers at bay. Salem scored twice and held off the Bobcat seventh with three straight ground outs.
Long took the loss for the Bobcats with one inning of work while the Tigers’ Travis Lavendier picked up the victory after coming into the game in the sixth.
In game two Salem, again, jumped out in front in the first inning on a one-run single by Shinn but Wesleyan starter Alex Hernandez closed the door in the next four innings and relievers Anthony Hernandez and Austin Mann (save) kept the Tigers off the scoreboard in the final two innings.
Scoring for the Bobcats came in the fifth inning: Tilton doubled, scoring Eddie Rueda and Fujushita, and Drag singled to score Tilton. In the seventh inning, Wesleyan tacked on one more when Rueda singled to score Josh Alaya.
