INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- West Virginia State's baseball team went toe-to-toe with Concord on a windy Friday afternoon at Cal Bailey Field and took the first two games of the series, stunning the South Division-leading Mountain Lions. The Yellow Jackets dropped nine hits and took advantage of a mountain of miscues to put an insurmountable eight runs in the first two innings of game one, then a walk-off Kyle Waters home run secured a come-from-behind victory in game two.

Post Game Records
WVSU: 17-19, 9-11 MEC
Concord: 22-17, 13-7 MEC

Game One: WVSU 8, Concord 2
West Virginia State opened its doubleheader against Concord with a commanding 8-2 win in game one. After Concord took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, WVSU responded immediately with three runs in the bottom half, then added five more in the second. Brodie Guenther went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, while Tyler Overaitis also drove in two. J.T. Fabian earned the win, tossing six innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs with four strikeouts. Riley Vadasz closed out the game with a scoreless seventh inning. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of six Concord errors and recorded nine hits in the win.

State's offense capitalized early, scoring all eight of their runs across the first two innings. Kyle Waters doubled, and Charlie McGuiness, Guenther, and Overaitis contributed run-scoring hits during the stretch. The defense turned a key double play to end a fifth-inning threat by the Mountain Lions. WVSU stranded nine runners but kept Concord scoreless over the final six innings to take game one and extend its win streak over the Mountain Lions to three.

Game Two: WVSU 4, Concord 3
In game two, Kyle Waters delivered a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to give West Virginia State a 4-3 victory and secure the doubleheader sweep. Waters went 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBIs. WVSU trailed 3-0 entering the bottom of the sixth before rallying with three runs to tie the game. Brian Lingenfelter pitched a complete game, scattering 11 hits while allowing three runs and striking out six over seven innings to improve to 5-1 on the season.

After being held scoreless through five innings, WVSU's comeback in the sixth was fueled by a Waters solo shot, followed by hits from Michael Bittinger, Nathan Paulsen, and Guenther. Overaitis capped the frame with a game-tying RBI double that Concord's Demetri Jamison nearly ran down at the warning track. Waters' second homer of the game and sixth of the season came on the first pitch of his two-out at bat in the bottom of the seventh, sealing the win and pushing the Yellow Jackets' winning streak over Concord to four.