FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - At its home away from home, the Frostburg State baseball team pushed its winning streak to seven games as the Bobcats defeated SUNY Brockport at JP Riddle Stadium, Saturday afternoon.
The Bobcats made their third trip to North Carolina this season to take advantage of warmer weather and brought SUNY Brockport with them for a non-conference contest at JP Riddle Stadium, home of the Fayetteville SwampDogs. FSU felt right at home as the Bobcats opened the weekend with a 7-3 win.
Trailing 1-0 going into the bottom of the third, Frostburg plated a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead and never looked back, Senior Kam Stewart pushed his hitting streak to 11 games, dating back to last season, with an RBI double to bring home senior Zach Weiss and tied the game at 1-1. Classmate Nick Walker followed with an RBI double of his own to score Stewart and give FSU a 2-1 lead.
The Bobcats tacked on two more in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-1 lead. With runners on second and third, the Brockport pitcher missed the mark and junior Pat Sines came home on a wild pitch. Senior Nick McElfish scored the second run of the inning on Weiss' second hit of the game, an RBI single through the right side that chased relief pitcher Derick Fera after just one inning of work.
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fifth, McElfish drew a walk to score senior Ricky Brady and give the Bobcats a 5-1 lead.
SUNY Brockport got a run back in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly but freshman Jake Stephens worked himself out of anymore trouble with a groundout to second to end the frame 5-2 in favor of FSU.
Brockport was threatening in the top of the eighth with two on and no outs, but senior catcher Lane Farmer helped out his pitcher as he picked off Dan D'Eletto from second and caught Brendan Swayne trying to steal second. The Bobcats got out of the inning unscathed and headed to the bottom of the eighth with a 5-2 lead.
Frostburg struck for the final time with a pair of runs in the home half of the eighth on two hits. Weiss led of the frame with a walk and moved to second on a sac bunt from senior Ricky Castro. Stewart singled through the left side to put runners on the corners for Walker who grounded out to second to score Weiss. Brady followed with a double down the left field line to bring around Stewart and give FSU a 7-2 lead heading into the final inning.
Brockport scored the game's final run as Chris Davis singled to right to bring home Anthony Barbetto with two outs but was caught trying to stretch his single into a double and ended the game at 7-3 in favor of FSU.
Freshman Greg Scheider earned his third win on the mound for Frostburg as he pitched 6.0 strong innings, allowing just one run on five hits and struck out a career-best nine batters. Tyler Clifford sufferend the loss for Brockport after lasting just 3.1 innings and allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits and two walks. Clifford struck out four Bobcats.
Weiss and Stewart each went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Bobcats while Walker drove in a pair of runs.
The Bobcats return to action at JP Riddle Stadium tomorrow as they play Wesley in their Capital Athletic Conference opener. The doubleheader's first pitch is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
