CHARLESTON, W. Va. - The Frostburg State Baseball team earned a pair of late wins against Charleston on Saturday evening by scores of 4-2 and 4-3.
In a rematch of last season's MEC Championship Game, the Bobcats and Golden Eagles are off to good starts at ninth and fourth, respectively, in the Atlantic region rankings. With a sense of familiarity, former FSU assistant and pitching coach Dean Peterson is now at the helm for UC, with former Bobcat Trevor Jones as one of his assistants taking on their former team for the first time.
Frostburg started game one with junior Jacob McDonald on the mound, as the first few innings would move quickly with both pitchers facing one more batter than the minimum through three. The Bobcats would strike first in the top of the fourth, as junior Danny Estrada led off the inning with a single and was moved into scoring position when senior Ethan Kiple hit a one-hop single off the right-center fence. Junior Mikey Guy hit a deep sacrifice fly to score Estrada, putting Frostburg up 1-0.
After McDonald worked a 1-2-3 fourth thanks to a double play and inning-ending strikeout, Charleston responded in the fifth, finally getting to the right-hander. UC led off the inning with a home run, then knocked in a second on an RBI single to take a 2-1 lead. With a runner still on, junior Cael Huyer came on in relief and got a pair of outs to end the frame without any further damage.
Both teams' bullpens locked down the sixth, as junior Nate Vermillion came on in the bottom of the sixth to strand a runner on third with a strikeout and foul-out, keeping the deficit to one. Guy led off the seventh with a single, advanced to second on a sac bunt from freshman Ryan Bouma, and later scored on a single to center by junior Cy Probst. With the game tied, senior Lucas Gulczynski came in to pitch hit and he came up big for the Bobcats, hitting a single to right that ended up scoring two runs on a UC error and putting FSU back in front. Kiple came in to close out the game, getting the first batter to strikeout, then working around a one-out single with a fly out to center and a fantastic diving catch at short by junior Christian Schertzer to seal the win.
Game two had a similar feel, with the Bobcats striking first and late dramatics to win it. Junior Patrick Bauer got the start after an impressive showing in his first career start against Concord. He would work cleanly through his first two innings, as the Golden Eagles could only manage a bunt single while striking out twice. Frostburg put up two runs in the second inning on two hits and a UC error. Guy lined a single into left, followed by Bouma reaching on the error and the runners moving up on a sac bunt from Probst. Junior Ben Wieman laced a comebacker straight off the Charleston pitcher for a hit that scored Guy, then senior Stafford Allison would score Bouma on a bunt, making the score 2-0.
Charleston would get one run back in the bottom of the third after a two-out RBI double that halved the deficit. FSU would regain their two-run advantage in the next inning, however, with Probst and Wieman working back-to-back singles followed by Allison being hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded, senior Justin Jimenez would bring home a run on a chopped grounder to third. The Golden Eagles would add a run in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the ball game up at three runs apiece, as Jimenez ended the latter inning by throwing a runner out at second trying to steal to keep the score tied. Having come on in the bottom of the fifth, graduate Daniel Morgano would work through the sixth, stranding two runners on a backwards K to give the Bobcats a chance to lead in the seventh.
Junior Randy Steen started the frame reaching on an error at third, then Estrada bunted his way on as the former sprinted all the way to third. UC would make a double play on a grounder from Kiple, but gave the lead to Frostburg in the process. With FSU up 4-3, Kiple would again come in to finish the game, working out of another one-out single with a strikeout and groundout for his second save of the night.
Vermillion and Morgano both picked up wins on the day, the latter earning his first in a Bobcat uniform, as FSU's bullpen combined to allow just one run while striking out six across 6.1 innings of total work. Guy led the offense with four hits on the day, with Estrada close behind at three knocks, as seven different players recorded an RBI.
With the sweep, Frostburg improves to 12-6 on the year, while Charleston falls to 14-6. The Bobcats will take a short trip tomorrow, March 24, to face West Virginia State with a doubleheader starting at 1 PM. For more information visit frostburgsports.com
