Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The University of Charleston baseball team split a pair of games against regional opponent Fairmont State with each team taking a 6-5 victory away from Triana Field, Tuesday afternoon.
In the first contest, the Golden Eagles (6-12) could not overcome an early 4-0 Fighting Falcon advantage. UC cut into the FSU lead as senior Mike Dahl (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee Senior) and freshman Igor Molina (Coral Springs, Fla./Coral Springs) each registered an RBI single in the second and third innings, respectively.
The Falcons used two singles and a well-timed double to expand the lead to 6-2 in the fifth inning off reliever Matt Thompson (Ashland, Ky./Fairview). The Golden Eagles refused to give up on victory in the contest as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning with singles by Nick Barnes (Strasburg, Va./Strasburg) and Andy Stichter (Inglis, Fla./Dunnellon) with junior Andrew Armstrong (Washington, Pa./Trinity) reaching by being hit by a pitch.
Molina grabbed his second RBI of the contest by drawing a one-out walk to plate Barnes and cut the lead to 6-3. Senior Ryan Toler (Charleston, W.Va./Capital) followed with a two-RBI single to leftfield to pull UC with a run with the tying run in scoring position. The Falcons defense clamped down to force a fielder’s choice by Dahl and closed the game with a strikeout to secure the 6-5 win.
In the second game FSU came out with another first inning lead (2-0), but the University of Charleston responded with five runs of its own with four hits and three base on balls in the second inning to take a 5-2 advantage.
Fairmont State scraped away at the lead with a single run in the fifth inning and two runs in the top of the seventh to knot the game at 5-5 to send the contest into extra innings.
Junior Matt Maus (Hamilton, Ohio/Stephen T. Badin) shut down the FSU attack in the top of the eighth to set UC up to win the game. Maus took his first win of the season as Fairmont State’s pitching fell apart in the bottom of the eighth by walking the bases loaded and then forcing the winning run home with an RBI walk to John Schraer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson).
The Golden Eagles return to the field for a weekend series with Ohio Valley beginning at 1:00 pm on Friday, April 2.
