PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The second-ranked Frostburg State baseball team dropped a pair of games to non-conference opponent, La Roche, Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats fell in a pitcher's duel in the first game, 2-1, before La Roche came back for a 8-4 win in the night cap.
The Bobcats (35-5) got a complete-game effort out of senior starter Clayton Freimuth in the opening game but ultimately fell in the pitcher's duel, 2-1. The Redhawks (25-10) struck first with a pair of runs in the second inning. The two runs came on two hits and one costly Bobcat error.
Frostburg cut the lead in half with a run in the sixth on a pair of hits. Senior Nick Walker drew a walk with one out and promptly stole second to move into scoring position. Senior Ricky Brady brought Walker home with a single to center for Frostburg's only run of the game.
Freimuth faced the minimum amount of batters in the bottom of the sixth with help from senior Lane Farmer catching a Redhawk trying to steal second to end the frame. The Bobcats went down in order in the seventh as the Redhawks hung on for the 2-1 win.
Freimuth went the full 7.0 innings, allowing two runs, just one earned, while striking out seven. The senior now how 89 strikeouts on the year and has moved into fourth in a single-season at FSU.
The Bobcats got out to an early lead in the night cap as Walker broke the scoreless tie with his seventh homerun of the season. With two outs and two on, sophomore JT Tipton doubled to left field to bring home Farmer and junior Zach Keeler to give FSU a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
La Roche got two back in the home half of the second to cut the lead to 3-2 but FSU added a run in the top of the third to take a 4-2 lead. With two outs, Walker and Brady hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners before Keeler doubled to left to bring home Walker.
The Redhawks took the lead with four runs on two hits and three FSU errors in the bottom of the fourth and held on for the 8-4 win. La Roche tacked on a run in the fifth and sixth to seal the win.
Freshman Daniel Richardson endured the loss for FSU on the mound as he went 3.2 innings and allowed six runs, three earned, on five hits and struck out four.
Tipton and Brady each had three hits on the day for FSU while Walker scored three runs.
FSU returns to action on Tuesday when the Bobcats travel to Greensburg, Pa. to face Pitt.-Greensburg at 4:00 pm.