FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Frostburg State baseball team opened its season with a doubleheader against Penn State Abington Friday afternoon at J.P. Riddle Stadium in North Carolina and earned a sweep against the Nittany Lions.
Frostburg (2-0) posted a 6-1 victory in game one and cruised to a 23-9 triumph in the nightcap.
Two seniors highlighted the day for FSU with Greg Schneider notching 15 strikeouts in the first game while Matt Bougourd tied a school record eight RBI in the nightcap.
GAME ONE
The Bobcats opened the 2018 season with a 6-1 win over Penn State Abington in a game that saw the Frostburg pitching staff combine to strike out 20 batters.
Frostburg received a masterful pitching performance from Schneider (1-0), who earned the win after allowing just one run and two hits. Schneider had 15 strikeouts, matching his career high set at home against Mount Aloysius on April 26, 2017.
Schneider, who at one point retired 10 straight batters via strikeout, was nearly unhittable after allowing his lone run on a single in the first inning. He retired seven batters in three pitches or less and got 16 swings-and-misses on 92 pitches.
Frostburg's 20 strikeouts are the most for a team since the 2006 Bobcats fanned 18 batters in a 15 inning marathon against Villa Julie (now Stevenson).
The 20 strikeouts are also the most for a Bobcat team dating back to 1995, the first year team game-by-game strikeouts totals were kept as an official record at Frostburg. Only one Division III school registered 20 or more strikeouts on the mound in the entire 2017 season, which came in an 11 inning game.
Frostburg provided Schneider all the run support he needed in the second inning when senior outfielder Evan Colon laced a double to left field, scoring junior Jason Paredes and senior Colton Sivic for a 2-1 lead. Colon wasn't finished offensively and plated senior Patrick Bosley with a double in the fourth.
Colon and Bosley notched two hits each while junior Brock Antognoni, junior Nick Fuhrmann, Bougourd, Sivic and Paredes all recorded one hit.
Fuhrmann handed the Bobcats a 4-1 lead with a single to right while Bosley brought home the final two runs of the contest with a single to right for a 6-1 lead.
Overall, Frostburg plated nine runs on six hits with no errors while PSA notched its lone run on three hits.
GAME TWO
The Frostburg offense overpowered Penn State Abington in game two and the Bobcats secured a convincing 23-9 victory. It marks the first time Frostburg has scored 20 or more runs in a game since last March against Southern Virginia.
The Bobcats cracked their 23 runs on 22 hits with six players recording multiple hits. While Bougourd tied the single-game school record for RBI (8), Burger also tied the record for hits (5). Frostburg scored three or more runs in five different innings, including 19 in innings 4-7.
Bougourd picked up where he left off last season with a home run in the fourth inning which put the Bobcats in front 7-2.
With the score tied at seven, the Bobcats scored five runs in the fifth and never looked back. Colon and Antognoni singled in runs while Bougourd and Burger doubled runs home to give Frostburg a 12-7 edge. Antognoni, who went 4-for-5 at the plate, led the team with a game-high five runs scored.
The offensive fireworks continued with six runs in the sixth inning and five runs in the seventh. The Bobcats concluded their offensive surge with a three-run blast to left by Fuhrmann.
Junior left-hander Christian Rivera earned the victory in relief in senior Dan Richardson. Junior right-hander Travis Brashear , who recorded the save, did not allow a run to close out the game.
UP NEXT
Frostburg continues its opening weekend tomorrow afternoon against Stevenson at 2:30 p.m.
For up-to-date game information, including live stats and video streaming, visit frostburgsports.com.
