BECKLEY, W.Va. -- Fairmont State's 2017 baseball season came to an end on Saturday at Epling Stadium in Beckley, as the Falcons dropped games to West Virginia Wesleyan (12-7) and Charleston (7-3) to get eliminated from tournament play.
 
The Falcons ended the year with a 29-24 overall record, recording its best finish and first winning season since 2002. FSU also picked up its first conference tournament victory since 2013 on Thursday afternoon with a win over Concord in the opening round. This season was Fairmont's first appearance in the Mountain East Conference Baseball Tournament.
 
Game 1 - WV Wesleyan 12, Fairmont State 7 | Box Score
 
After jumping out to a 6-1 lead in Saturday's second-round matchup with West Virginia Wesleyan, Fairmont State dropped a 12-7 final to the Bobcats at Beckley's Linda K. Epling Stadium.
 
Troy Kifer opened the scoring in the top of the first on a single into left field that brought home Ben Myers for the first run of the game. Johnny Kesling pushed Fairmont's lead to 2-0 on a groundout up the middle that allowed Kifer to cross home plate.
 
After another double by Austin Norman, his fourth of the tournament, Jacob Whitmore drove the junior across home plate to make the Fairmont advantage 3-0 after one inning of play.
 
Following a scoreless second, Wesleyan pushed one run across in the top of the third to put the Bobcats on the board.
 
Kesling drove in another FSU run in the bottom of the third on a single to left field that plated Kifer – pushing Fairmont's early advantage to 4-1. Later in the inning, Jacob Whitmore brought home Norman on a fielder's choice and Tyler Hill hit an RBI single to left field to give the Falcons a five-run advantage (6-1).
 
However, West Virginia Wesleyan scored seven runs in the top of the fourth to grab the lead and added four more in the ninth to close out the 12-7 come-from-behind victory – advancing to Saturday evening's winners bracket final against Shepherd.
 
Whitmore drove in Fairmont's seventh run of the day in the bottom of the fifth, singling up the middle to bring home Norman for the third time in the game. Whitmore went 3-for-5 with a stolen base against the Bobcats.
 
Game 2 - Charleston 7, Fairmont State 3 | Box Score
 
UC jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the nightcap and never trailed in a 7-3 victory over Fairmont State to advance to Sunday morning's MEC Tournament Semifinal matchup with West Virginia Wesleyan.
 
After recording 18 hits on Thursday and 12 on Saturday afternoon against the Bobcats, Fairmont State was limited to just six hits on Saturday evening as the Falcons end the year with a 29-24 overall record.
 
After falling behind by a 3-0 margin, Fairmont State got two back in the top of the third – starting with an RBI double to left center by Ben Myers to bring home Scott Hessler. Norman added an RBI single up the middle later in the inning to cut the Wesleyan lead to just a single run (3-2).
 
However, UC scored three unanswered runs over the next three innings to jump back in front by four (6-2).
 
In the top of the seventh inning, FSU had the bases loaded with Norman up to bat, but he was walked to bring home Fairmont's third run of the game. Kesling was next to the plate with the bases loaded, but a groundout got the Golden Eagles out of the jam.
 
Charleston added its seventh run of the game on a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to get the game to its final score, 7-3.