West Virginia State kept knocking at the door all day Friday — that is, until Mac Schnur and Fairmont State slammed it shut and locked it up for good.
Fairmont stranded 11 Yellow Jackets baserunners over the first eight innings of a tight contest and then put the game away with a five-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth to earn a 9-3 victory in the Mountain East Conference tournament at GoMart Ballpark in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
WVSU (30-19) righted itself after that in elimination action, knocking out Frostburg State 4-2.
Quintin Reep led the bat attack for Fairmont by going 3 for 4 with a two-run homer and a pair of doubles. The Falcons picked up half of their 12 hits in their final at-bat.
The win sends the Falcons (20-27) into a 1 p.m. Saturday meeting with the University of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä (41-8) in the winners bracket.
The final score doesn’t indicate the closeness throughout the game. West Virginia State led 1-0 after one inning and 3-2 after three, but couldn’t board another run despite numerous chances.
The Jackets stranded seven runners in scoring position, four of them at third base. Their last best chance came in the top of the seventh when, in a 3-all tie, Nathan Paulsen singled and Tyler Overaitis walked to start the inning.
That’s when Schnur took over for Falcons starter Will Knight and quashed any hopes for the Yellow Jackets. Schnur fanned the first three batters he faced in the seventh and, after issuing a leadoff walk in the eighth, again set down three straight — again all by strikeout.
Fairmont coach Matt Yurish was full of praise for all the stress pitches the Falcons threw.
“Will Knight and Schnur did a real good job of hanging on and throwing big pitches in tough situations,†Yurish said. “They really showed a lot of competitive fire and we gave our hitters a chance to bust out, and they did in the eighth inning.â€
Leading 4-3, the Falcons plated five runs on six hits in the bottom of eighth against three relievers to break it wide open. The big knock was a two-run double by Cameron Moore, with Zach Brennan and Ryan Goff also donating RBI hits.
That left it up to former Hurricane pitching standout Logan McClure to close it out for the Falcons in the ninth, which he did by getting two K’s in the final inning.
West Virginia State coach Sean Loyd bemoaned the Jackets’ lack of clutch hitting, especially in the middle innings.
“Typically, you don’t win or lose a game in the late innings,†Loyd said. “Normally, it’s the middle innings. We had three innings there where we had an opportunity to score and we didn’t. We stopped making contact, so for whatever reasons, we just didn’t put the bat on the ball.â€
Former St. Albans pitcher Ayden Hodges was the hard-luck loser for the Jackets, going 6 2/3 innings and throwing 114 pitches.
With the game tied 3-all in the bottom of the seventh, he retired the first two batters before Quintin Smith singled and took second when Hodges’ pickoff attempt at first got away. On the next pitch, Noah Canterbury lofted a single that landed just inside the left-field line and scored Smith for a 4-3 Falcons lead.
“He did a good job,†Loyd said of Hodges. “He battled Fairmont. They’re a contact-hitting team and they’re going to put the bat on the ball. We knew that going in. We felt like if we could get soft contact and we could play good enough defense behind him, we’d keep innings from getting out of hand.â€
Three West Virginia State batters chipped in two hits apiece — Mike Huber (2 for 5, double), Overaitis (2 for 4, double, RBI) and Michael Bittinger (2 for 3, double). Overaitis and Chris Morris had back-to-back RBI singles in the third to put State ahead 3-2.
Yurish was pleased to avoid playing in Friday’s late game, especially because it gives the Falcons pitching staff time to recover.
“It gives us a chance to get back and get some rest,†Yurish said, “and figure out who we have available for tomorrow and how we can piece it together. Then we’ll get a plan together and give ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä everything we’ve got.â€
W.VA. STATE 102 000 000 — 3 10 1
FAIRMONT STATE 020 010 15x — 9 12 2
Hodges, Fabian (7), Baumgardner (8), Lewis (8) and Overaitis; Knight, Schnur (7), McClure (9) and M.Canterbury.
Hitting: (WVS) Huber 2-5, 2B; Overaitis 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bittinger 2-3, 2B. (FS) Moore 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Goff 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Reep 3-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI.
