Buckhannon, WV-- The West Virginia Wesleyan Baseball Team would take on West Virginia State University in a 4 game conference divisional series. The first two games would be played on Thursday afternoon and the other two would be played on Saturday afternoon due to weather conditions. 

Game 1:

On the mound for the Bobcats would be Senior pitcher Hunter Rotarius as he looks to give his team the edge to start off the series. 

State would come out swinging the bats as they put up 3 hits on 3 runs as the Bobcats would immediately be down in the first inning. 

In the second inning the Bobcats would bring the game within two runs as Travis Renner would start it off with a walk. With two outs Renner would steal second base getting in scoring position for the lead-off batter Greg Smith. Smith would single to center field scoring Renner as the Bobcats makie it a 3-1 game. 

The very next inning the Bobcats would scratch another run across. Eric Forbrick would stroke one into center field to start off the inning. Dominic Castello would move Forbrick over to second base as Nick Grotti looks to get the 2 out rally started. Grotti would line one into center field to bring in Forbrick as the Bobcats would be within 1 run. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning the Bobcats would tie it up. Ben Fulks would hit a soft groundball to the shortstop as he would beat it out down the line. Tanner McCallister would move Fulks over and Greg Smith would single bringing in Fulks as the Bobcats would execute to tie it up 3 a piece. 

The Bobcats would be consistant as they continue to put 1 run across every inning as Dominic Castello would lead off the fifth inning. Castello would single up the middle. Ryan Kiser would come up and move him over as the Bobcats continue to play small ball. Nick Grotti would single into left field as Castello would come around 3rd base to take the lead 4-3. 

The Bobcats couldn't hold State forever as they would put up 4 hits and 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to make it 7-4. 

The Bobcats would fail to push anymore runs across as they would come up short 8-4 as they look to take game 2 of the day.

Game 2:

On the mound for the Bobcats for Game 2 would be Senior pitcher Dominic Castello looking to earn his 4th win of th season. 

The Bobcats would come out swinging the bats right away as they would put up 6 runs on 5 hits. Greg Smith would start it off with a single to left field. Jonathan Cintron would reach first on an error by the pitcher. Eric Forbrick would make State pay as he would hit a 3 run home run to right center field to make it a 3-0 game. Nick Grotti would step in the very next batter as he would a homerun in the same exact spot as the Bobcats go back to back. Josh Petit would keep the momentum rolling as he would single up the middle. Leo White would also reach on a fielder's choice as the Bobcats are still not done. Bryson Fluke would single to left field bringing in two more runs to make it 6-0. 

State would not roll over as they also would hit back to back home runs to bring the game within 3 runs (6-3). 

The next inning the Bobcats bats would continue to stay hot as Jonathan Cintron would reach on a walk and immediately steal second base. Eric Forbrick would put another ball in the gap to make it 7-3. Forbrick would reach third base on a past ball and eventually score from Josh Petit grounding out to 2nd base. (8-3). 

In the third inning the Bobacts would put up 2 more runs. Bryson Fluke would start it off as he would single to left field and proceeded to steal second base. Eric Forbrick would continue to swing the bat well as he singled to left field bringing in Fluke to score. Nick Grotti would piece one up in the gap and would score Forbrick all the way from 1st base and Grotti trots to second base with a stand up double (10-3). 

In the top of the 5th, State would close the gap as they would put up 3 hits and score 4 runs as this one was far from over.

In the bottom half of the inning Bryson Fluke would start it off again with a walk and Greg Smith would single as State would change their pitcher to face Jonathan Cintron. Cintron would reach as he would get hit by a pitch to load the bases for the Bobcats 3 hitter Eric Forbrick. Forbrick would unleash a bomb to left field as he hits his first career grand slam to break this one wide open 14-7. 

Fluke would start off the bottom half of the 6th with a single as he would eventually come around to score due to Nick Grotti also staying hot with a single to right center field making it 15-7. The Bobcats would go on to win as they crush West Virginia State University 15-7 as the Bobcats put up 16 hits in game 2. 

Games 3 & 4 will be played on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 and 2:30 PM.

Game 3:

On the mound for Game 3 would be Freshman Pitcher Michael Maiolo as he looks to win his 5th game of the year. 

West Virginia State would come out swinging the bat as a double and a home run would get some momentum going for the Yellow Jackets. They would go on to score 3 more runs as they put up 5 runs as the Bobcats would need to get something started. 

The Bobcats would start it off with Greg Smith smashing a single to begin the bottom half of the inning. Alex Skinner would reach on an infield single as he beat the throw from the shortstop. Eric Forbrick would double down the right field line as Smith would come around to score and the Bobcats would have two runners in scoring position for Antonio Vega. Vega would hit a deep fly ball to right field which would score Skinner on a Sacrifice fly to make it 5-2. Dominic Castello would stroke one out to left field that would hit the top of the fence and bounce over as the Bobcats would now be within just 1 run in the first inning. Travis Renner and Nick Grotti would keep it rolling as they would both single. Ryan Kiser would move them both into scoring position for the shortstop Tanner McCallister. McCallister would line one to center field to make 6-5 as the Bobcats took the lead in this offensive first inning. 

State would also continue to hit the ball well as they put up 2 runs on 3 hits as they take the lead 7-6. 

In the bottom of the third inning, Dominic Castello would start off the inning with a walk, Travis Renner would get the job done as he moves him over to second base. Nick Grotti would smash one in the gap scoring Castello and earning another stand up double. Nick Grotti would eventually come around to score on a balk to take back the lead 8-7 Bobcats. 

In top of the fourth inning the Yellow Jackets would tie it up as their aggressive base running would pay off to make it 8 a piece across the board. 

The offensive scoring would come to a halt until the top of the 8th inning when the Yellow Jackets would pick up 2 runs on a 2 run home run to make it 10-8 as the Bobcats would have one more chance to tie it up or win it. 

The Bobcats couldn't push 2 runs across as State takes game 3 of the series 10-8, as Game 4 would start shortly. 

Game 4:

Kyle Kania gets the start for the Bobcats as he looks to win his 4th game and continue his perfect record. 

State would get on top as they push one run across in the first inning to make it 1-0. 

In the top of the second State would find their stroke as they put up 3 hits and push across 2 runs to make it 3-0. 

In the bottom half of the inning, Nick Grotti would start it off with a hit by pitch and Dominic Castello would reach on an error from the shortstop bringing Sam Ross to the plate. Ross would single to the right side loading the bases for Todd Burner. Burner would reach on a single to male it a 3-1 ball game as the Bobcats fail to push anymore runs across. 

In the bottom of the third the Bobcats would tie it up as Greg Smith would start it off by reaching base on an error from the 3rd baseman. Jonathan Cintron would also reach on an error from the shortstop as Eric Forbrick would move them over as Anotnio Vega would hit a Sacrifice fly to right field to score Smith making it 3-2. Nick Grotti would then single to right center field to make it 3-3 as the Bobcats are back in it.

The game would be paused for nearly 2 hours due to heavy rain and thunderstorms as the game would eventually start back up at 5:00. There would be no more runs scored until Bryson Fluke would come up to bat in the bottom of the 7th inning looking to get on any way possible. With a 0-1 count Fluke would get a pitch he could handle and would smash it over the right field fence as the Bobcats would walk it off 4-3 to split the series with State. 

The Bobcats will be back in action next weekend at Virginia-Wise.