CARY, N. C. – The Frostburg State baseball team split its doubleheader on Saturday, defeating Mansfield before falling to Franklin Pierce. The split moves FSU's record to 4-8 on the season.
Game One
The Bobcats won in dramatic fashion in the opener, taking down Mansfield 6-5 with a walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
Frostburg shook off 11 strikeouts from its batters to outhit the Mounties 9-6. The Bobcats also plated five runs over the final three innings to rally for the victory.
The two teams combined for just one run through five innings as the Bobcats jumped out to 1-0 cushion in the third when junior Bryce Jackson singled home junior Bret Fogle with one out.
Mansfield took a 5-1 lead in the sixth as Ben Osborne led off the frame with a two-run single to left.
Zach Spray and Josh Farina added RBI singles and Spray scored on a sacrifice fly to complete the five-run outburst.
The Bobcats started their rally in the seventh when a Mountie error on the infield allowed sophomore Worthy Hollister and senior Mitch Fyffe to score to narrow the deficit to 5-3.
In the bottom of the ninth with one out, Fogle singled up the middle and scored both Fyffe and sophomore Andrew Smith that knotted things at 5-5.
Jackson, the next batter, swung on the first pitch from Todd Erney and drove home sophomore Mike Brown with the game-winning single.
Jackson finished the win at 2-for-5 with two RBI and a stolen base.
Senior Devin Griffith took the win on the mound, tossing the final 3.0 innings, while holding Mansfield scoreless with two strikeouts. First-year Ben Vok got the start, but didn't factor in the decision after lasting 5.1 innings with five earned runs and two strikeouts.
Game Two
Frostburg State took on Franklin Pierce in the second leg of the back-to-back, with the Ravens taking the game 14-3.
Franklin Pierce struck first in the first inning, bringing home a trio of runs to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning. FSU would get one run back in the second inning, as junior Andy Iglesias walked and scored on a single by sophomore Nick Benitez.
The Ravens would plate two more runs in the third inning to take a 5-1 lead. FSU would get another run back in the bottom of the fourth, again with Iglesias scoring the run. Iglesias singled with one out, and would move up to second after a single from sophomore Mike Brown. After moving up to third on a groundout, Iglesias came home on a wild pitch to make the score 5-2.
Franklin Pierce would put up five runs in the fifth and four runs in the seventh to take a 14-2 lead. The Bobcats would add another run in the bottom of the eighth thanks to an RBI single from Iglesias to make it 14-3.
Iglesias finished the second game of the doubleheader 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
The Bobcats return to the field tomorrow afternoon against Indiana (Pa.) beginning at 1:00 p.m. For up-to-date information, or to follow along with the live feed or the live stats, visit frostburgsports.com.