ATHENS, W.Va. – The Emory & Henry College Baseball Team (7-27) fell in non-conference action to Concord University (13-12) Tuesday afternoon. The Wasps took an early 5-1 lead, but could not hang on as the Mountain Lions took the win by an 8-7 final.
The Basics
FINAL SCORE – Concord 8, Emory & Henry 7
LOCATION – Athens, West Virginia
VENUE – Anderson Field
RECORDS – Emory & Henry (7-27, 4-17 SAC); Concord (13-12, 4-6 MEC)
How It Happened
Concord took the early advantage with a run on a pair of hits in the bottom of the first inning, but the Wasps struck back in the top of the second. Sophomore catcher Garrison Bullock (Concord, N.C.) got things started with a double down the line in left and scored on an RBI double from fifth-year outfielder Christian Schmidt (Fuquay-Varina, N.C.). Junior third baseman Steven Smith (Salisbury, N.C.) singled and senior outfielder Triston Hensley (Covington, N.C.) executed a safety squeeze to plate Schmidt. Fifth-year second baseman Noah Mazza (Plainfield, Ill.) drove in another run with an RBI double and senior outfielder Jared Foley (Sparta, N.C.) scored Mazza with yet another RBI double. Foley would come around to score on an error and E&H held the 5-1 lead.
A Marshall Basham solo home run cut the Wasps' lead to 5-2, but once again E&H had an answer. Junior first baseman Jacob Bebber (Taylorsville, N.C.) drew a walk, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Bullock to push the margin back out to 6-2. Concord answered back in the bottom of the inning with a three-run homer off the bat of Chris Satcher and the score stood at 6-5 after three innings.
The Mountain Lions tied things up with a run on a pair of hits in the bottom of the fourth until the Wasps responded in the top of the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Smith to push them back ahead 7-6. Concord immediately scored another run in the bottom of the fifth and the score was all square once more at 7-7. Both teams were held scoreless over the following three innings and the game entered the bottom of the ninth still deadlocked at seven runs each. CU loaded the bases without recording a hit and Basham delivered a walk-off RBI single up the middle to take the 8-7 win.
Brendan Brady earned the win on the mound for Concord after allowing just one hit over two innings of work. Freshman reliever Billy Baxter (Huntersville, N.C.) took the loss for E&H, giving up an unearned run and a hit in 1 ⅓ innings. Bullock and Schmidt led the offense with a pair of hits while six different Wasps had an RBI in the loss.
Up Next
The Wasps return home on Friday, April 5 when they host the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. from Porterfield-DeVault Field.
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