CARY, N. C. – The Frostburg State baseball team split in their Saturday doubleheader. Game one against Clarion finished with a 2-1 walk-off thriller off the bat of first-year AJ Campbell. Game two, the Bobcats fell 10-3 to Tiffin with senior Ryan Roell going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Game One:
The Bobcats needed strong pitching and timely hitting late to pull out their first win of the season.
Coach Anthony Williams took down his former school with the help from quality pitching from first-year Ben Vok on the rubber for the Bobcats and Campbell's power. He finished the game tossing six innings and striking out six hitters with only giving up one run. Alongside Vok, senior Chris Roosevelt threw two innings in relief, allowing only two hits. Offensively, senior Ryan Roell was with 1-for-5 with an RBI and Campbell had a hit as well while also the game winning RBI.
Clarion got the scoring going off of an error by FSU in the top of the first. After a wild pitch got a Golden Eagle runner in scoring position, an error by Frostburg created an opportunity. Junior Bret Fogle started the second inning by ripping a double into left field. After being moved over by a groundball from sophomore Nick Benitez, Roell brought home Fogle with a sac fly to centerfield.
The game became a back-and-forth affair with neither offense collecting many hits for much of the game.
The bottom of the seventh inning started with life for the offense of FSU. Junior Bryce Jackson drew a walk to start the inning. After a fly out by Campbell, senior Mitch Fyffe grounded into a double play.
The top of the ninth inning began on a positive note for Clarion. A one out double got the ball rolling offensively before senior Caleb Smith came in to halt the attack. Smith got back to back outs on a fly out and a strikeout to end the inning.
Clarion then threatened in the top of the tenth inning with another one out double. Smith again rose to the occasion and got a fly out followed by a bases loaded line out to D'Amico to conclude the inning.
The bottom of the eleventh started with a Fogle fly out to right field. Benitez then lined a single into centerfield to get the Bobcats on the base path. Roell followed with a single while Jackson drew a walk to load the bases up. Campbell stepped to the plate and smacked a fly ball into center deep enough for Benitez to tag and walk it off.
Game Two:
Tiffin jumped out to an early lead in the second inning, pouring in six runs off of extra base hits and singles. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Tiffin drew a walk followed by a single and a double driving in two more runs to make the score 8-0 TU.
In the top of the sixth inning the Bobcats got the bats going. D'Amico walked while Fogle flew out to the shortstop. Benitez singled to right field and brought Roell to the plate. Roell responded with a line drive single to centerfield. Junior DJ Coleman reached on an error scoring Benitez making the score 8-2 Tiffin.
After Tiffin scratched across two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, FSU tallied one more run in the eighth after sophomore Worthy Hollister belted a single bringing a Bobcat home to make the deficit 10-3 Tiffin.
Sophomore Mike Brown went 1-for-1 with a run scored while Hollister had one hit as well. Campbell went 1-for-2 while Benitez finished 1-for-5 with a run scored. On the rubber, first-year Tristan Everett tossed three innings allowing two earned runs and two strikeouts. Junior Josh Clegg tossed a scoreless inning as well.
Frostburg plays Goldey-Beacom in a doubleheader tomorrow, February 23 at 10:00 a.m. to wrap up their weekend trip in Cary, N.C. For up-to-date information, or to follow along with the live feed or the live stats, visit frostburgsports.com.
