CHARLESTON, W. Va.- The Frostburg State Baseball team earned a doubleheader split against the University of Charleston on a chilly Sunday afternoon.
Game one started out with a long bomb from senior Bryce Jackson in the top of the first to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. That would be the only run of the game for Frostburg, however, as their bats were held to four hits, with two coming from senior Jack Lawrence. UCWV tied things in the bottom of the second, then took the lead with a pair of solo home runs and used a strong pitching performance to come away with the 3-1 win.
Junior Max Proctor was once again effective on the bump for FSU, but the lack of run support granted him his first loss of the year, as he now stands at 2-1. He pitched 4.1 innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out four. Freshman Dean Wandell finished the last 1.2 innings and pitched perfect in relief, striking out one.
The bats came alive in game two, as Frostburg scored eight runs on 11 hits. The scoring began once again off the bat of Jackson, as he launched his second first-inning home run of the afternoon to give FSU a 1-0 lead. Charleston would add a run off of junior starter Will Grove to tie it at 1-1 at the end of the first.
The Bobcats would blow the game wide open in the third, as they scored five runs to push their lead to 6-1. Jackson doubled to drive in a run to start the scoring for his second RBI of the game. Junior Jack Maruskin then singled in two more Bobcats to further extend their lead to 4-1. Senior Nick Benitez then singled home another run and sophomore pinch-hitter Chase O'Dell added an RBI to cap off the explosive inning.
The Golden Eagles responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, but Frostburg would add a couple insurance runs in the fifth, as O'Dell would once again get a big RBI and then scored himself on a wild pitch to grow the lead to 8-3.
Charleston put up some late offense in the bottom of the fifth, but the Bobcat bullpen was able to lock things down and hold on for the 8-6 victory.
Freshman Cael Huyer would earn his first collegiate win, as he came on to relieve Grove and pitched 2.1 innings, surrendering two runs as he worked his way into and out of trouble to maintain the FSU lead. Freshman Jacob Stretch came in and threw two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts to seal the game and earn his MEC-leading fourth save of the season.
Benitez led the offensive explosion, as he went a perfect 4-4 at the plate. O'Dell was also perfect, going 2-2 at the dish and providing a spark as a pinch-hitter by contributing two RBI. Jackson went 2-4 and drove in a pair of runs as well.
With the split, Frostburg moves their record to 14-4 and Charleston is now 14-8. The Bobcats will be back in action tomorrow, March 28, as they travel to play West Virginia State in a doubleheader starting at 1:00 P.M. For more information on Frostburg athletics, visit www.frostburgsports.com.
