West Virginia Wesleyan dropped both ends of a Wednesday doubleheader against Davis & Elkins at Culpepper Field, falling 9-1 in five innings in the opener before coming up short in a high-scoring 15-10 decision in the nightcap. The Bobcats were limited to six hits in Game 1, but answered with 12 hits and a massive second-inning surge in Game 2.
Davis & Elkins took control early in the opener with a five-run second inning and never looked back. After Wesleyan threatened in the bottom of the first by loading the bases on a
Jaelyn Riley walk, a
Lynzee Hague fielder's choice, and a
Josi Fix single, the Bobcats were unable to push across the game's first run. The Senators responded immediately in the second, getting a two-run homer from Audrey Higgins and a three-run shot from Lorena Ruiz-Rubio to build a 5-0 lead.
Wesleyan picked up scattered offense in the middle innings, with
Emma Putman singling in the second and
Gracey Arnold starting the fourth-inning rally with a base hit.
Madison Austra and
Kali Vance followed with singles to load the bases, and
Ella Fournier delivered the Bobcats' lone run with an RBI single to score Arnold and trim the deficit to 8-1. Davis & Elkins, however, added another run in the fifth on Madison Smith's RBI double and closed out the win in the bottom half.
Arnold, Austra, Vance, Putman, Fournier, and Fix each recorded one hit in Game 1 for West Virginia Wesleyan. Fournier drove in the Bobcats' only run, while Arnold scored it. In the circle,
Morgan Greene took the loss after the decisive second inning, and
Avery Orille worked the final four frames in relief. Davis & Elkins finished with 13 hits, led by two-hit performances from Gweny Wessling, April Belcher, Trinity Fleming, and Madison Smith, while Higgins and Ruiz-Rubio provided the big blows with home runs.
Game 2 turned into a back-and-forth slugfest, and after Davis & Elkins struck first with a three-run homer from Sammie Jarvis in the opening inning and added four more in the second, Wesleyan looked in danger of falling behind for good at 7-0. Instead, the Bobcats erupted for nine runs in the bottom of the second to seize a 9-7 advantage.
Reagan Winn opened the inning with a double,
Gracey Arnold followed with an RBI double, and a series of aggressive at-bats and D&E miscues fueled the comeback.
Madison Austra drove in a run,
Sydney Lowen added an RBI single,
Trinity Nowicki followed with an RBI hit,
Mackenzie O'Brien singled home another run, Winn added an RBI single later in the inning, and Wesleyan eventually moved in front when
Emma Putman reached on an error that brought home two runs.
The lead was short-lived, as Davis & Elkins answered with three runs in the top of the third to retake the lead at 10-9. The Senators added another run in the fifth, then broke the game open in the seventh with four more. April Belcher and Trinity Fleming set the table in that final frame before Audrey Higgins delivered the knockout swing, a two-run homer that pushed the Senators' advantage to 15-9. Wesleyan scratched out one more run in the bottom of the seventh when Putman doubled,
Sydney Lowen singled, and
Kali Vance grounded into a double play that allowed Putman to score, but the Bobcats could get no closer.
Wesleyan's offense produced several standout individual efforts in the nightcap. Winn went 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI. Putman finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, Lowen added two hits and an RBI, Riley had two hits and scored once, and Arnold doubled, drove in a run, scored once, and walked. Nowicki also contributed an RBI single during the Bobcats' big second inning, while
Josi Fix, Austra, and Vance each drove in a run as well.
Davis & Elkins pounded out 14 hits in Game 2 and got a huge day from Jarvis, who went 2-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs. Belcher was 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two stolen bases, Higgins homered and drove in two, and Trinity Fleming scored three times.
Wesleyan heads on the road to Glenville State for doubleheader game that begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 28.
