BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The Fairmont State baseball team opened Mountain East Conference play by taking two from West Virginia Wesleyan, 9-2, 7-5, on Friday evening at Hank Ellis Field in Buckhannon.
With the wins, the Falcons improve to 11-6 overall and 2-0 in the league. Wesleyan falls to 7-8 overall and 0-2 in the MEC.
The Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of game one when Adam Meeker, Alex Levitan and Nic Rush drove-in runs early for the Falcons. Wesleyan cut into the FSU lead in the bottom half of the inning when a pair of hits by John Koon and Corey Lynn drove in runs.
In the top of the third, Austin Norman started a stretch of six-straight runs by driving his sixth home run of the season into right center field. Phil Longnecker and Scott Hessler also drove in runs in the third giving FSU a 6-2 lead after three.
The Falcons wrapped up the scoring in the top of the third when Levitan, Jacob Whitmore and Rush all drove in RBI to give the Falcons a 9-2 cushion. Levitan and Rush each recorded multiple RBI in game one of the doubleheader.
Nick Opferman improved to 4-0 on the season after allowing just two first-inning runs and six hits in the victory. Opferman also struck out four batters.
In game two of the doubleheader, Fairmont State held-off a late push by the Bobcats to get the sweep of the twinbill, defeating Wesleyan 7-5.
The Bobcats started the scoring in the bottom of the third when Nick Jones hammered a two-run home run. However, the Falcons quickly responded when Brooks Carr was walked to bring in a run and Ted Sova singled to score Rush in the top of the fourth.
In the fifth, Norman tripled to bring home Levitan and Rush hit a single to bring home Norman in back-to-back at-bats to put FSU out in front, 4-2.
After the Bobcats added a run in the bottom of the fifth, the game remained a 4-3 margin until the ninth and final inning.
In the ninth, Levitan crossed home plate on a wild pitch to stretch the FSU lead to 5-3 late. Dorian Hetzel and Keller gave the Falcons some additional breathing room in the ninth by hitting RBI singles, giving Fairmont a 7-3 lead.
Wesleyan added two runs in the ninth before FSU got the final out and closed out the 7-5 victory.
Zac Burch picked up the win for FSU on the hill, although the Falcons went six-deep into their bullpen in the win.
The Falcons will return to the diamond on Monday evening when they travel to Glenville State for a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.
