PHILIPPI, W.Va. -- Fairmont State baseball looked to gain ground on the Mountain East Conference North Division leader Frostburg State this weekend as the Falcons went 3-1 against the Battlers of Alderson Broaddus. The Fighting Falcons are now one game behind the first-place Bobcats in the MEC North Division as Frostburg State went 2-2 the past two days.

The Maroon and White improved its record to 22-17 on the season and 17-7 in MEC after the four-game series in Philippi. The series at AB was also the first for Fairmont State's Head Baseball Coach Matt Yurish as was at the helm of the Battler baseball program for five seasons.

GAME 1 Fairmont State 2, AB 3

In the first game of the weekend series, Alderson Broaddus notched a 3-2 victory as Battler starting pitcher Ryan Varley threw seven innings of solid work against Fairmont State as Varley struck out 11 Falcons in the contest.

Connor Cramer suffered the loss in a solid outing for the redshirt junior as Cramer went six innings in the start and only allowed three runs (three earned) on four hits and struck out four batters on the day.

The game remained deadlocked at one apiece until the bottom of the sixth as Battler Chandler Ballenger homered over the right-field fence to give AB the 3-1 advantage. Fairmont State scored one run in the seventh as the Battlers knocked off the Falcons 3-2 from Jack Funk Field.

GAME 2 Fairmont State 3, AB 2

The Falcons topped Alderson Broaddus in Saturday's second game as Dwayne Thomas doubled down the right-field line Zachary Musgrove and Tyler Haskins scored on the play to even the game at two. Thomas touched home plate on a wild pitch via Will Knight to give Fairmont State the lead at 3-2.

Ben Taylor came in relief of Brett Whiteman as Taylor shut the door on the Battlers as he had four strikeouts in 32 pitches. Taylor collected his second save of the season and lowered his season ERA to 1.20.

Whiteman earned the win as he went five full innings of work in the contest as the graduate student from Ridgeley, W.Va. had seven strikeouts in his outing. Whiteman is 2-3 on the 2022 campaign and lowered his ERA to 4.83.

GAME 3 Fairmont State 20, AB 5

The bats for Fairmont State were on fire to start the day on Sunday as the Falcons won the third game of the four-game set 20-5. Musgrove and Thomas each had a grand slam in the seven-inning affair as Rafael Ramos and Justin Brown also collected home run shots in Philippi. The 20 runs and four home runs are also season highs for Fairmont State.

Musgrove had a day at the plate in game one as the senior from Grafton, W.Va. went 2-3 from the plate with six RBIs, two runs, and one walk. Thomas followed with four RBIs from the grand slam and Cade Sikoski and Quintin Reep each collected two RBIs in the offensive onslaught. 

Logan Smith settled down after AB scored two runs in the bottom of the first as Smith went five full innings and only allowed the aforementioned two runs on five hits. Smith had four strikeouts in his third win on the season. Alex Seymour and Evan McDade came in relief of Smith as the two went one inning apiece in the contest.

GAME 4 Fairmont State 6, AB 0

The fourth and final game of the weekend series in Philippi went in favor of the Falcons by a final of 6-0. Wil Mullins threw six innings of shutout baseball to earn a team-leading fifth win of the season.

Mullins had eight strikeouts in his ninth start of the season as he scattered five hits and two walks on an efficient 82 pitches on a scorching day in Philippi.

Dylan Gongola got the Falcons on the board in the first inning with a sacrifice fly. Thomas doubled the lead for Fairmont State in the fourth inning with a solo home run blast to left field.

In the fifth inning, Thomas hit an RBI single to left field to plate Musgrove as the Falcons scored four more runs. Vince Sabatino singled to third base as PJ Lanham touched home to make the score 4-0. Justin Brown hit a two-RBI single as Spencer Delawder and Thomas scored to make the score 6-0.

In the seventh inning, Alex Pane closed the door on Alderson Broaddus as the Maroon and White recorded its 22^nd win of the season and 17^th in conference play. The 17 conference victories are the most for the Falcons since 2017 when Fairmont State went 29-24 on the year.

Fairmont State (22-17, 17-7 MEC) returns to action next Saturday as the Falcons face West Liberty in a four-game series starting at 1 p.m. on April 30 in West Liberty, W.Va.