Point Park, Fairmont End Baseball's MEC Tournament Run

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Frostburg State Baseball team ended their MEC Tournament run on Saturday with losses to Point Park and Fairmont by scores of 7-4 and 8-0. 
 
Sophomore Jack Ray represented Frostburg on the mound to get the day going, tossing a three-up three-down first inning, ending his first go-around with a strikeout.  The Bobcats also showed the minimum in their first at-bats, pushing the game into the second inning quickly.  Ray struck out the first two Pioneers he saw in the outing, leaving two runners on after a ground out to end the top half.  Junior Jake Holler was the first batter for FSU to reach base on the day, drawing a walk in the bottom of the inning, as he was also left stranded. 
 
The Frostburg righty collected another K to open action in the third, as a two-run homer from Point Park put them on the board first ahead 2-0.  The Bobcats showed another 1-2-3 appearance at the plate, still searching for their first hit of the contest.  Redshirt freshman Cody Sharman took over on the mound after two runners for PPU drew walks in the fourth, as the Pioneers were able to steal a pair of runs off an outfield error from the Bobcats to increase their lead to 4-0.  Senior Mikey Guy roped a double in the second half of the inning for FSU's first knock of the day, trotting around to score off another MEC Tournament bomb from sophomore Ryan Bouma to cut Frostburg's deficit in half with a 4-2 score. 
 
Sharman dealt in the fifth, securing a strikeout and leaving a pair on.  Both junior Kade Abrisz and sophomore Jackson Schalick collected singles in the inning, with sophomore Brian Scott being hit by a pitch, but FSU was unable to do anything else in the bases loaded situation.  Freshman Hunter Layhew came in to throw after the first batter of the sixth was walked, as Point Park tallied back-to-back singles to add another run to their total for a 6-2 score.  Bouma connected on another hit to lead off the bottom of the inning, sending a single to shortstop, as senior Doyle McNew was walked to put a pair on for the Bobcats, but both were left on.
 
Both teams left one on in the seventh, with Layhew seeing a K to end the inning and Scott being credited with a single up the middle.  Layhew continued his success on the bump, throwing his first 1-2-3 inning of the day, as Frostburg worked to put two on in the bottom of the eighth with graduate Randy Steen and Abrisz knocking out singles, as runners were left stranded to move the game into the ninth. 
 
PPU shot out two hits off Layhew to begin the ninth, adding another run on the board.  Sophomore Ben Berger finished out the inning on the mound, as the Pioneers stole home to get the game to 7-2 before the Bobcats' last at-bats.  With two outs, senior Christian Shertzer came in to pinch hit, collecting a single to right off the first pitch he saw.  Guy then connected on a bomb to left center, adding two more runs to FSU's total to bring the final score to 7-4.
 
Now facing elimination, Frostburg was set to face Fairmont right away in a game that would either send them to the conference championship or end their season.  Freshman Zach Dodson started on the bump in the Bobcats' second game of the day, seeing three batters for three outs in his first appearance in the MEC Tournament.  Schalick led off Frostburg with a single to right field but was left on after the Falcons dealt three consecutive outs.  Fairmont found their first hit to start the second, as Dodson answered with two K's and a ground out.   McNew knotted a single in the bottom half of the inning, as Hall was awarded a walk, but both were left on as the game remained scoreless.
 
The Falcons came alive in the third, scoring their first run off a Bobcat error and knocking three hits for four runs.  Sophomore Byce Hendricks took over on the mound to try and finish out the inning, as a walk and a single added two more runs to Fairmont's total.  Redshirt senior Nate Vermillion came in to get the final out of the third, as the Falcons led 6-0.  Redshirt freshman CJ Carmichael drew a walk with just one out, but the next two Bobcats lined out to move the game to the fourth.  Vermillion knotted a trio of strikeouts in the fourth, after Fairmont tallied another run off another Frostburg error.  The Bobcats went three-up three-down in their offensive outing of the fourth, as the score read 7-0 in favor of Fairmont. 
 
Vermillion went 1-2-3 in the fifth, seeing another K and ending the outing with a double play, as Schalick knocked out another single for Frostburg but was again left on.  Again, the Falcons showed the minimum against Vermillion in the sixth with the righty adding another K to his total, as redshirt junior Ben Wieman connected on a double to left field in the bottom of the inning, but the Bobcats were unable to get anything out of it.  Scott swapped hits with the Falcons in the seventh, as both teams left one runner on.  Fairmont worked for an RBI triple in the top half of the eighth, moving the score to 8-0 heading into the final inning.  Vermillion and senior Ryan Adams tag teamed from the bump to start off the ninth with the minimum, as Abrisz reached base in Frostburg's final at-bats, as the final score read 8-0 with Fairmont coming out on top. 
 
Schalick led Frostburg with three total hits on the day, while Guy, Bouma, Abrisz, and Scott all saw a pair with Guy showing two runs and two RBI as well.  Vermillion saw a career-high 11 strikeouts in game two, giving up just four hits and two runs in six innings, while Ray collected four K's and Layhew saw three.
 
With the losses, Frostburg sits at a record of 36-17 for the season.  Point Park and Fairmont advance to tomorrow's MEC Tournament Championship game, while the Bobcats will wait to see if they get a bid in the NCAA Division II Tournament with the selection show airing tomorrow, May 11 at 10:30 PM.  For more information and updates, please visit frostburgsports.com.