ATHENS – The top two teams in the Mountain East Conference South Division squared off today in a battle with first place on the line when the West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats hit the road for a doubleheader with the Concord University Mt. Lions.
With the Mt. Lions holding a one-game conference lead heading into the twin bill, the two teams split their doubleheader with Wesleyan winning game one by a 10-8 score and Concord taking game two by an 18-5 score.
The split left Wesleyan with an 11-7 mark in league play and a 13-20 record overall while Concord is now 12-6 in conference play and 19-16 overall.
In game one, Wesleyan trailed by a 5-0 score after three innings of play.
Wesleyan answered with four runs in the top of the fourth.
Ryan Kiser had a one-run single, Dominic Castello hit a two-run single and James Fraser cracked a one-run single to make it a 5-4 contest.
Wesleyan used a five-run outburst in the top of the fifth to grab a 9-5 lead.
Kiser cracked a one-run single and later scored on a fielding error, Greg Smith hit a one-run single and James Fraser crushed a two-run double to center field to account for the scoring.
Concord scored three times in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 9-8 contest.
Antonio Vega hit a sacrifice fly that scored Kiser to give Wesleyan an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning.
Wesleyan outhit Concord by a 13-8 margin.
Fraser, Kiser, Eric Forbrick and Vega each had two hits.
Zach Henderson improved his record to 2-0 as he started on the mound and went four innings.
He allowed just one earned run on three hits while striking out three.
Game two belonged to Concord.
With the Mt. Lions leading 2-0 after two innings of play, John Koon singled home Fraser with a single to right field to make it a 2-1 game in the top of the third.
Concord scored three times in the bottom of the third for a 5-1 lead.
A Wyatt Adkins single through the left side scored Forbrick to close the gap to 5-2 in the top of the fourth.
Concord scored five times in the fourth, and tacked on three more in the fifth and four in the sixth for a 17-2 lead.
Wesleyan scored three times in the top of the seventh on a one-run single by Koon, a one-run single by Austin Keene and Forbrick was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
A solo home run by Concord in the bottom of the eighth wrapped up the scoring.
Koon, Adkins and Castello each had two hits.
Dillon Isom started the game and suffered the loss.
Wesleyan and Concord will play again tomorrow in another doubleheader.
The first game is slated to start at 1 p.m.
