CARY, N.C. – In a game that saw 25 total runs and 30 hits, West Virginia State Baseball prevailed Sunday, downing The College of Saint Rose in a thrilling 13-12 victory at the USA Baseball National Training Complex's Division II Showcase.
State improves to 4-2 on the season, while Saint Rose slips to 4-6 on the season.
Junior Trey Junkins led the way with four hits on the day with two doubles and scored four times. Freshmen duo Dante Zamudio and Nathan Paulsen each tallied two hits each, with Paulsen also registering two two-baggers and Zamudio posted three RBI. Graduate student Andrew Stone also posted two hits and drove in three during the contest.
Fellow rookie Quincy Thornton picked up his first collegiate win, tossing two and two thirds in relief while tallying three strikeouts.
The game was a wild affair, with State taking the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh after the Zamudio doubled home Paulsen, and then himself came home on a fielder's choice from sophomore Ryan Kay to put the Yellow Jackets up 12-11.
Junkins plated the crucial insurance run in the eighth on a wild pitch to ultimately hand WVSU their 13th run.
The Golden Knights scored three times through the first two innings, but State erased that deficit with an eight-run second inning.
After a single from Junkins started the frame, Paulsen doubled him home and then joined him the next at bat courtesy of Zamudio's single to left field. A double from graduate student catcher Andrew Sharp to center field moved Zamudio to third, and both came home on a line drive single placed perfectly into right field from Kay.
Now with the 4-3 lead, the Yellow Jackets added what they thought would be insurance runs courtesy of Stone. A bases-clearing triple to right field brought home both Kay and Michael Stone, who had reached via a connection through the left side.
Andrew Stone plated State's seventh run of the inning on a RBI groundout from classmate Matthew Kline, and Junkins came home for the second time in the inning on another Paulsen double.
The five-run lead was short lived, as Saint Rose scored twice in the third inning to cut State's advantage to 8-5.
The Golden Knights used a pair of walks, three singles, a double, and a sacrifice fly to score five times in the fifth inning and regain control of the contest, up 10-8.
The Yellow Jackets again began to trim away at the deficit, scoring a run in each the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, despite a leadoff homer from Saint Rose in the sixth. Junkins scored his third run of the game after doubling and coming home on a sac fly from Zamudio, and Kay plated a run on a double from A. Stone.
Saint Rose threatened with a leadoff home run in the ninth, but Thornton was able to enduce a pop fly and double play to secure the victory for State.
UP NEXT
State returns home Wednesday, hosting Bluefield State College in a nine-inning affair slated for 2 p.m. Live stats and video will be available.
