CROZET, Va. – The Frostburg State baseball team started their 3-game weekend series in Virginia with a bang by defeating Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s preseason No. 23 Old Westbury 16-3.
Box Score
Traveling all the way down from New York to open their season, Old Westbury jumped out of the gate quickly, scoring two runs on five hits in their first half inning of play. The Bobcats (3-1) would then go on to put up 16 unanswered runs with the aid of 19 hits, 10 of them going for extra bases, before the Panthers added one on in the final inning.
Frostburg State had a one-run lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning when the bats erupted for six runs. With one out, senior Jon Keeler got things rolling by driving a ball deep into the right center gap for a double. Junior Matt Donaldson followed up with a triple into the right field corner that plated Keeler. Three batters later, newcomer Ryan McGuigan hit a triple of his own that brought home two more runs, including himself on an errant throw by the center fielder, giving him the asterisked inside-the-parker.
Following their six-run sixth inning, the Bobcat bats managed to stay hot plating seven runs over the final two innings. Junior Dylan Shupe lead all Bobcat hitters with four hits on the day, including two doubles and McGuigan drove in six runs, including a three-run homer in the eighth. Senior Garrett Price chipped in with three hits of his own and four other Bobcat hitters each recorded two hits for the squad.
On the mound, Bobcat starting pitcher Doug Politz settled in after a shaky first inning and was able to keep the Panthers off of the scoreboard for the remainder of his outing, earning him his first win of the early season. Junior Kenny Georgius was outstanding out of the pen, giving up only one hit in three innings of work.
Tim Walsh took the loss for Old Westbury in their season opener. Three different Panthers got two hits apiece to pace the opposing offense, including a first inning home run by centerfielder Jonathan Pagan.
Bobcat baseball returns to action tomorrow morning when they close out their weekend series against Old Westbury with a doubleheader in Crozet, Virginia beginning at 11:00 am.
