Final Stats

BECKLEY, W.Va. -- Fairmont State jumped out to an 8-0 lead after just four innings and rolled past the Mountain East Conference Southern Division Champion Mountain Lions of Concord, 12-6, on Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the 2017 MEC Baseball Championships at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley.
 
Fairmont State (29-22) will now play West Virginia Wesleyan at 7 p.m. Friday evening in second round action. The Bobcats outlasted West Liberty, 14-12, in 13 innings on Thursday evening. Concord drops to 26-24 on the year and will face the University of Charleston in an elimination game on Friday morning at 11 a.m.
 
Austin Norman, who was recognized prior to Thursday's game along with teammates Johnny Kesling and Michael Stout for being first team All-MEC selections, went 5-for-5 with three doubles, a triple, four runs batted-in and three runs scored in the victory. Leadoff hitter Ben Myers also had a big day for the Falcons, going 4-for-6 with a double, RBI and two runs scored.
 
Myers put the Falcons on the board in the top of the second with a double to left field that brought home Troy Kifer. FSU added three more runs in the top of the third – starting with a single up the middle by Jacob Whitmore to allow Norman to cross home plate. Ted Sova, who went 3-for-5 on the day, gave the Falcons a 4-0 advantage on a single that brought home Tyler Hill and Whitmore for a pair of RBIs.
 
After once again holding Concord off the scoreboard in the bottom of the third, Norman doubled to deep left center to plate Myers – giving FSU a 5-0 advantage in the fourth. Hill added three more runs later in the inning on a home run to left center that bounced off the top of the wall and cleared the fence for a three-run shot – his second home run of the year.
 
Trailing 8-0 entering the fifth inning, Concord got two runs back on RBI singles from Chad Frazier and Adrian Peralta.
 
The score remained the same until the end of the sixth when lightning in the area forced a 30-minute weather delay in the action.
 
The weather delay ended Stout's day on the hill – as the FSU ace improved to 9-3 on the year after striking out five and allowing just two runs in a quality pitching performance to open the weekend for the Falcons.
 
The FSU bats were not done though, as Kesling drove a single into left field in the eighth inning to push Fairmont's lead to 9-2. Then, in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded, Norman hit his third double of the day to clear the bases and put the Falcons in front by a score of 12-2.
 
Concord added four runs in the bottom of the ninth before Fairmont State grabbed the final outs to end the game.
 
The teams combined for 31 hits on the afternoon, including 18 from Fairmont State. Fairmont's 18 hits in the game were its third-highest total of the season.