FROSTBURG, Md. - The Frostburg State baseball team took three out of four games in their final season series against Fairmont State to clinch a berth in the MEC tournament, earning a one seed as both teams share the North Division title.
 
In the first two games of the four-game set were played in Nutter Fort, WV, as junior Max Proctor got the start in game one and worked smoothly through the opening innings, only giving up three hits through three innings. The Bobcat bats were quiet until the top of the third, as sophomore Chase O'Dell led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third after two flyouts. Freshman Danny Estrada brought O'Dell home on a single to left and gave Frostburg the early lead.
 
Frostburg added a second run in the fourth inning. Senior Bryce Jackson led off the inning on a double down the line and advanced around the bases on Fairmont errors. Proctor followed up the run support with a solid fourth striking out two batters. The Fighting Falcons finally got to Proctor in the fifth, plating two runs to make it a 2-2 ballgame.
 
Unable to break the tie in regulation, the game moved into extra innings. Frostburg and Fairmont matched each other keeping the score tied at two until Fairmont broke through in the bottom of the ninth. With two down the Fighting Falcons hit a walk-off double to win the game 3-2.   
 
With the Bobcats needing a win to ensure a spot in the MEC tournament, game two became even more important. After an empty top of the first for the Bobcats, Fairmont was able to land the first strike against junior starter Ethan Kiple. A two-run homerun to left field gave the Fighting Falcons the early lead, though the Bobcats would respond in the second with a two-run bomb of their own from sophomore AJ Campbell.
 
With the bats going for both sides, Fairmont regained the lead in the second, scoring two runs on two hits. Kiple helped himself out in the third, picking up a RBI single to make the game 4-3 Falcons. After Fairmont went three up and three down the Bobcats crossed the plate twice to take the lead 5-4.
 
The Fighting Falcons would tie the game at five in the bottom of the fifth and the game would remain even until the seventh. Freshman Christian Shertzer led things off with a double to left. He would then score on a throwing after an Estrada bunt to give the Bobcats the lead. Jackson and Kiple hit back to back singles, with the latter picking up an RBI. Jackson would be knocked in by a Campbell ground out and make the score 8-5. The last bit of insurance was tacked on by senior Jack Lawrence with a single up the middle. With a 10-5 lead, sophomore Nick Trey finished things off for the Frostburg win. 

The final two regular season games were played at Bob Wells Field, where Frostburg celebrated senior day by honoring Jackson, Lawrence, and their fellow classmates Josh Netterville, Nick Benitez, and Josh Colliflower. 

In game one the Bobcats got off to a slow start and fell behind 3-0 after two innings. The bats would heat up as freshman Danny Estrada would lace a two-out single and came around to score on a double by junior Trevor Jones to cut the deficit to 3-1. 

Frostburg would explode for four more runs in the fourth after junior Jack Maruskin led the inning off with a laser to the gap in left center for a double and would be driven in via ground out by Lawrence. Benitez would jump start the offense with two outs as he bunted his way on and proceeded to steal second and third. Shertzer would leg out a single to drive in Benitez and would be followed up with an infield hit from Estrada. Jones came back up to the plate and knocked in both Shertzer and Estrada to give Frostburg the lead 5-3 after four. 

Fairmont would add a run in the fifth but the Bobcats would answer in the bottom of the sixth as sophomore Aidan Duda and Estrada would each collect an RBI to push the lead to 7-4 and maintain some breathing room. Junior Will Grove would come in and slam the door on the Falcons as he fanned two in an inning of work to secure the victory for Frostburg and earn his first save of the year. 

Redshirt Freshman Hayden Ford got his first victory of the year as he went a strong 4.1 innings, striking out five. Freshman Ben Wieman and Grove would seal the game with 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball. 

In game two it was all Bobcats from the first pitch. Jones singled and would score on a double off the bat of Jackson to give Frostburg an early 1-0 lead. The Bobcats would tack on three more in the second as sophomore AJ Campbell, Benitez, Shertzer, and Estrada would all contribute doubles to push the lead to 4-0. 

After the Falcons scored a run in the third, Estrada would add to his big day with a bomb to regain a four run lead at 5-1, though Fairmont would storm back in the fifth as they scored five runs to take the lead 6-5. Estrada kept his bat hot, as he evened the game back up in the bottom of the sixth, singling home Duda to tie it at 6-6.

The game would then go into a pitchers duel as Maruskin, freshman Cael Huyer, sophomore Ben Vok, and Campbell would throw a combined five innings of one hit baseball. 

The game would go to the 10th inning and was started by a single off the bat of Benitez, followed by another single by Weiman to put two runners on. After Estrada popped out to short, sophomore Nick Trey would make Bob Wells Field explode, hitting a walk-off home run and seal the epic victory for Frostburg. Trey rounded third and launched his helmet in the air as the rest of the team preceded to barrage him as he crossed home for the fairytale senior day ending. 

Colliflower pitched well in his final game at Bob Wells Field as he went four innings of two run baseball, fanning five. Estrada led the offense with four hits and two RBI, while Campbell and Benitez would both add two hits apiece.

With the wins, Frostburg ends the regular season with a record of 32-15 and Fairmont finishes 27-20 as the teams share the North Division title, with the Bobcats taking the one seed on head-to-head record. Both teams will advance to the MEC Tournament, with Frostburg taking on three seed Glenville State on Thursday, May 12 at 3:30 PM from Beckley, WV. All information on tickets, live stats, and live streaming can be found at Tournament Central.