BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – Fairmont State rallied to split a double header with Charleston on Saturday afternoon at the Bridgeport Recreation Complex. The Golden Eagles took game one, 5-2, before giving up a six-run lead in game two as FSU picked up the 8-7 victory.

UC took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning of game one after a double by Brad Johnson to bring home a pair of RBI for the Golden Eagles. FSU tied the game in the next two innings when Phil Longnecker scored an unearned run in the fourth and Jeremy Walter brought home an RBI in the fifth.

UC scored three in the top of the sixth and held FSU scoreless during the final two innings to wrap up the 5-2 victory in game one.

Charleston took an early 6-0 lead in game two, capped by a two-run home run from Jordan Banks in the top of the second. The Golden Eagles put four runs on the board in the first inning. In the bottom third inning, Randy Tallhamer cut the UC lead in half with a three-run home run for the Falcons.

In the fourth with two runners on, Sam Harris hit a sacrifice fly to cut the UC advantage to 6-4 going into the fifth inning. After FSU retired three straight UC batters, the Falcons scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 6-6. Tallhamer started the scoring in the fifth by belting a double to right center for the RBI. Later in the inning, Nic Rush hit a sacrifice fly to right field to allow Tallhamer to score from third.

Charleston regained the lead in the top half of the sixth when Tyler Itnyre hit an RBI single to bring home the runner from third. However, the Falcons responded in the bottom half of the inning when Jeremy Walter and Josh Wine brought in a pair of RBI to give the Fairmont State its first lead of the game, 8-7.

UC had a runner at second with one out in the seventh, but FSU got the final two outs to close out the 8-7 come-from-behind victory.

FSU and UC will play games three and four of the series on Sunday afternoon in Bridgeport starting at 1 p.m.