SALISBURY, Md. – After dropping its first game of the conference tournament on Tuesday, hopes of playing further into the weekend were dashed this afternoon as the Frostburg State baseball team was eliminated by top-seeded Salisbury, 22-5.
 
Box Score
 
Coming into today’s contest, the tournament hosts and top-seeded Seagulls (25-6) had hit just five round-trippers on the season, but by game’s end, they would have accumulated more than double that total, finishing with six long balls in the game.
 
The Bobcats (20-14), in their first trip to the plate, were able to jump out to an early lead. With one out, Matt Donaldson doubled to right field to get the offense going. Following a Kevin Kean walk, Rob Jennings then came up to bat and singled through the middle to score Donaldson for the game’s first run.
 
In the bottom half of the first, Frostburg starter Doug Politz was able to get all three outs via the strikeout but before those three outs were recorded, Quinn Griffith hit a two-run homer to give the Seagulls a 2-1 advantage.
 
After surrendering a run in the first, Seagull starting pitcher Dan Fein held the Bobcats offense in check until the sixth inning but during that span Salisbury was able to extend its lead substantially, scoring 13 unanswered runs thanks to three more home runs.
 
The Bobcats got one back in the top of the sixth inning on a Pat Sapp RBI single but two home runs in the Salisbury half of the sixth, including a grand slam from Nick Gentry, would essentially seal the deal for the Seagulls.
 
FSU was able to squeeze out three more runs over the final three innings but it would not be enough to keep the Bobcats’ conference title hopes alive.
 
The 22-run outburst by the Seagulls was the second time this season that the Bobcats had surrendered 20 or more runs to their conference foe this season.
 
Jennings and Sapp each had two hits and an RBI to pace the Frostburg lineup and Nick McElfish and Brandon Remalia also chipped in with an RBI apiece.
 
On the Salisbury side, Fein improved to 8-0 on the year for the Gulls. Pacing the lineup, Gentry, Griffith, Evan Graci, and Bobby Sanzone combined to drive in 19 of the 22 runs.
 
Although the opportunity for an automatic bid to the NCAA regionals has now been lost, there is still hope that the Bobcats could receive an at-large bid depending on their performance in the remainder of the regular season. Frostburg State will return to the diamond on Tuesday when they head up to Annville, Pa. for a make-up game with Lebanon Valley beginning at 3:30 pm.