Caitie Smith

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State Baseball began conference play with a bang, sweeping the two-game series with Mountain East Conference preseason North Division favorite Notre Dame Saturday at Cal Bailey Field by scores of 6-3 and 7-3, respectively. The Yellow Jackets move to 5-3 on the season, cranking out 26 hits on the day. Notre Dame drops to 3-7.

Sophomore Trey Junkins and graduate student Chris Jordan each posted four hits on the afternoon, scored twice, and added a RBI. Seniors Andrew Stone and Matthew Kline tallied three hits apiece, each doubling and Kline plated two runs. Graduate student Matt Harrison homered, drove in three, and scored three times.

GAME 1: WVSU 6, NOTRE DAME 3
The Falcons attacked early, taking a 2-0 lead courtesy of a solo homerun and a pair of singles in the opening frame.

West Virginia State broke the blank in the fourth, as Jordan sliced a single back up the middle, advanced to second on a ground out, and came home on another single up the middle, this time courtesy of catcher Andrew Massey.

The Yellow Jackets took the lead the next inning after Harrison smacked his third long ball of the year, a two-run shot down the left field line that also brought home Kline, who reached earlier in the inning on an infield single.

The lead was short lived, as Notre Dame wasted no time evening things at 3-3 the following frame, taking advantage of a WVSU miscue and coming home on a sacrifice fly.

The Yellow Jackets plated their final three runs of the contest in the bottom of the sixth, after a bases-clearing double to deep left center from designated hitter Antonio Brown brought in Kline, Harrison, and shortstop Brett Christian, who reached on a pair of fielder's choices and a single.

Senior Jacob Bradley earned his first win of the year on a clean sheet in the sixth, and senior Andrew Stone picked up the save.

GAME 2: WVSU 7, NOTRE DAME 3
The Falcons used four hits and a WVSU error to take a 3-0 lead in the second, but WVSU responded by scoring four times, registering six hits in the bottom half of the inning.

Three straight singles, courtesy of Junkins, Jordan, and senior second baseman Austin Martin loaded things up for Christian, who smacked the ball down to third base to bring home Junkins and Jordan.
Martin scored on a single through the right side from Stone, and Christian came home on yet another single, this one to right field from Harrison.

WVSU added insurance in the third, going up 5-3 after Junkins, who had singled yet again, scored on a Massey single to right field.

Harrison and Brown plated back-to-back runs in the fifth for some cushion; Harrison reaching on a hard-hit single back to third base, and Brown boarding via hit-by-pitch.

Reliever Nick Loftis moves to 2-0 in the young season after five scoreless frames, scattering three hits and fanning six.

UP NEXT

Another MEC twinbill awaits WVSU Sunday, as the Yellow Jackets play host to Alderson-Broaddus. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.