Charleston, W.Va. – The Golden Eagles had to come from behind to defeat the Pioneers in the Mountain East Conference Tournament. Charleston trailed 6-1 but came back to defeat Glenville State 7-6.
 
GAME 1
 
The Basics:
Location: GoMart Ballpark
Score: UC 7,  GSU 6
Records: UC 41-8, Glenville State 28-21
 
How it Happened:
The Golden Eagles struggled to find their offense early on in the ball game. The Glenville State Pioneers taking the lead in the top of the first inning. After hitting a batter and giving up a hit, Charleston starting pitching Owen MacNeil struck out his first batter of the afternoon. Despite the out, Glenville plated a run on a base hit by the next batter. Charleston kept the damage to a minimum though, trailing early 1-0.
 
Glenville pitching got off to an excellent start, after walking the first Golden Eagles, Julian Minaya struck the next three Charleston batters out to get his squad back to the plate.
 
MacNeil returned the favor and struck out three Pioneers in the top of the second. Charleston could not muster anything in the bottom half of the inning as the lone baserunner got picked off moments after being walked.
 
In the top of the third Glenville plated two more runs. The leadoff batter drew a 3-2 walk and then De Jesus homered to left field to give his team the 3-0 advantage over Charleston. The Golden Eagles were once again kept quiet in the bottom of the third.
 
Charleston finally got on the board in the bottom of third, the inning getting started with a Casey Finck double to right field. JD Armstrong then drew a four pitch walk to put runners on first and second. Finck and Armstrong then were successful on the double steal before a flyout was recorded. With one out and runners in scoring position, Hector Carreon-Herrera then laid down a sacrifice bunt that allowed Finck to score from third for Charleston's first run of the game, now trailing 3-1.
 
Things were calm for both sides for the next few half innings until Glenville State got things going in the top of the sixth. A leadoff double followed by a bunt single with an errant throw on the play allowed the run to score and Glenville to take the 4-1 lead. The next batter singles to left and then another bunt single with a throwing error allowed the second run of the inning to score. The Pioneers sixth run of the game was scored on the next batter with and RBI groundout to second. With the RBI, Glenville led 6-1 over the Golden Eagles.
 
Carter Rust and Hector Carreon Herrera started the bottom half of the inning off with back-to-back doubles to plate Charleston's second run of the game. After an injury delay, and a fly out, Damian Witty singled through the right side to score Carreon-Herrera and cut the deficit to 6-3. Evan Ulrich followed with a single to left field, but the Pioneers recorded their second out of the inning with a strikeout, runners on first and second for the top of the order. Drew Klaserner delivered with a single to right field that scored Witty and advanced Ulrich to third.  The next batter to the plate Casey Finck used his speed and legged out an infield single to shortstop, picking up an RBI as Evan Ulrich scored. Charleston plated four runs in the inning, now trailing 6-5 heading into the seventh.
 
After sitting the Pioneers down in order, Charleston got the leadoff man in Carter Rust aboard with a single to left field. Rust stole second and then a few pitches later was picked off leaning to third. Following the out, Hector Carreon-Herrera bounced a triple off the wall in right center, putting a runner on third for Brayden McCallister. McCallister produced and flew out to right field, Carreon-Herrera able to score from third on the play and tie the game at 6-6.
 
Campbell Spradling entered on the mound for Charleston in the top of the eighth and sat the Pioneers down in order, a little thank you to his center fielder Carter Rust for an acrobatic catch to save an extra base hit. To start things off in the bottom half of the inning, Evan Ulrich led the inning off for Charleston with a double to right field. Pinch hitter AJ Karosas laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Ulrich to third. Drew Klaserner lasered a ball out to right field that was caught, but Ulrich was able to tag on the play and give Charleston their first lead of the game, ahead 7-6.
 
Now just needing to collect three outs, Spradling got the first hitter he faced in the top of the ninth to ground out to short stop. Following the out, Charleston looked to their bullpen and sent Trey Ritchie to the mound to try and close things out. Ritchie worked two quick groundouts to retire the side and pick up the save, Charleston taking the 7-6 come from behind victory over Glenville State.
 
Up Next:
Charleston will play the only other undefeated team in Fairmont State on Saturday, May 11^th at noon. Winner will advance to Championship Sunday.