ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. – The Frostburg State baseball team traveled down to St. Mary’s College this weekend in search of its first conference series victory and it accomplished just that as the Bobcats split the Saturday twinbill, 5-1 and 0-1, and held off the Seahawks for a 7-6 win in the decisive third game on Sunday.
Box Scores
Game 1 (DH)
Game 2 (DH)
Game 3
Great pitching was the theme for Saturday’s doubleheader, getting outstanding performances from both sides in each game.
Austin Poretz got the start on the mound for the Bobcats (17-11, 5-7 CAC) in the first contest and he was masterful over his first six innings of work, allowing just two hits to the opposing Seahawk hitters.
On the other side, Seahawk starter Devon Jerrard was keeping pace with Poretz but in the fourth inning, the FSU hitters were able to break through. Kevin Kean drew a walk to lead off the top of the fourth and Rob Jennings then followed up with a single to left field, moving Kean over to third base. With Kean just 90 feet away and still no outs, Dylan Shupe was able to lift a ball to left field that was deep enough to plate the Bobcat centerfielder from third for the first run of the game.
With the Bobcats now leading 1-0, the game would go unchanged for another 2 ½ innings before the lineup cashed in with some insurance runs, knocking Jerrard from the game.
With one out in the top of the seventh, freshman designated hitter Zach Keeler stroked a double down the left field line to spark the rally. Big brother Jon Keeler followed his young blood by poking a ball over the first baseman’s head that would score Josh Jackson, who had come in to pinch run, from second base. The Bobcats would go on to score three more runs in the inning, thanks, in part, to a Mike Virbickis RBI single and an error by the Seahawk shortstop.
St. Mary’s (Md.) (12-19, 4-8 CAC) finally got to Poretz in the final inning but it was too little, too late.
Junior Kenny Georgius came on in relief of Poretz and he fanned the final two batters to seal the deal for Frostburg. The save was Georgius’ first of the season. Poretz finished the day with just five hits surrendered in 6.1 innings, while striking out four.
Kean was the lone Bobcat hitter with multiple hits as he finished 2-for-3 at the plate in Game 1 and Virbickis, Shupe, and Keeler all contributed with an RBI apiece.
Game 2 turned out to be a more prototypical pitcher’s duel as both starters gave gutty performances for their respective teams.
On the Frostburg side, Doug Politz was completely dominant after a shaky first inning. The senior right-hander gave up two hits in the early get-go but eventually settled in nicely, carving up Seahawk hitters left and right. Politz would not allow a hit for the next six innings.
Opposite of Politz, St. Mary’s turned the ball over to Wick Eisenberg in Game 2 and he was matching the Bobcat starter pitch for pitch. In a different manner than Politz, the crafty left-hander kept the hitters off balance with pitches of slow and slower and it gave them fits.
Both squads were limited to two hits apiece through the first seven innings so of course an extra eighth inning would be needed to settle the duel once and for all.
Frostburg was able to get runners on first and second with one out in the extra segment but Eisenberg got the final two hitters to fly out to end the threat.
St. Mary’s then came up in the bottom half of the inning and got a lead-off walk. Politz struck out the next Seahawk but gave up a single to Paul Roemer. Following a double steal that brought the winning run within 90 feet, Luke Green slapped a ball just out of the reach of second baseman Pat Sapp’s glove for the 1-0 walk-off win.
Politz finished with six strikeouts and allowed just four hits in the undeserving loss. On the offensive side, the Bobcats managed just three hits from Virbickis, Jon Keeler, and Garrett Price. Without a hit in Game 2, Kean unfortunately saw his 25-game hit streak come to an end but the junior has still managed to reach base in every game for the Bobcats this year.
The third and final game saw a bit more offensive action on Sunday afternoon as the two teams managed to double the offensive output seen in the first two games combined.
After two innings of scoreless baseball to kick-off the game, FSU broke it open in the top of the third. Jon Keeler and Price drew back-to-back walks to get things rolling. Virbickis then singled through the left side to score Keeler for the game’s first run. J.K. Filauro matched Virbickis’ RBI single with one of his own through the left side as well. The Bobcats got four more runs before the damage was done, thanks to a pair of two-RBI singles from Shupe and Z. Keeler. Frostburg now held a comfortable 6-0 advantage.
FSU starting pitcher Curtis Randall cruised through the first three innings, not allowing a single hit, but the lefty got himself into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the fourth. The Seahawks played station-to-station baseball and were able to plate three runs in the inning, cutting the deficit in half.
The Bobcats got one back in the very next inning as Kean led the inning off with a double down the left field line and then proceeded to score, three batters later, on an errant throw by the opposing first baseman trying to catch Kean off of the bag at third.
St. Mary’s would score one in each of the next two innings, but more damage was avoided with the help of relief stints from freshmen Kyle McCormack and Zach Lawhorn.
From the sixth inning on, tempers flared from both sides with a culmination of poor umpiring throughout the weekend sparking the fire.
With the teams being separated by a mere two runs, the Bobcats called upon Georgius to once again close the door, but this time he would have to record the final nine outs of the game as opposed to the last two outs of the first game.
The Seahawks gave FSU a scare in the bottom of the ninth but the Bobcats were able to come away with the slim 7-6 series clinching victory thanks to a heads up play by Price, who caught the possible tying run trying to advance to third base after the ball had been thrown home.
McCormack picked up the win on the mound for Frostburg and Georgius got his second save of the weekend.
Shupe and Z. Keeler both went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the series finale to pace the lineup. Virbickis and Filauro also added two hits apiece and they each had an RBI to go with it.
The Frostburg State baseball team returns to action on Tuesday when it travels up to Pittsburgh for a bout with La Roche College starting at 3:00 pm.
