WISE - - UVa-Wise and West Virginia State split a pair of one run games in a Mountain East Conference baseball doubleheader at Stallard Field Friday afternoon. The Cavaliers came from behind to win the opener 8-7 in eight innings before the Yellow Jackets held off the hosts for a 6-5 win in the night cap.
UVa-Wise (14-18, 11-7 MEC) entered the home half of the seventh inning of game one trailing 7-4 before mounting a furious rally.
Sophomore Dawson Cagle started the inning with a base hit up the middle before Matthew Branham walked and Tyler Blaum singled to load the bases.
Jordon Turner then laced a single to left field to make it a 7-5 game. A batter later, Josh Haga produced an RBI groundout to make it a one run game with men on the corners and one out.
Cavalier skipper Hank Banner then called for a safety squeeze but, West Virginia State hurler Tyrel Panter fielded the ball and fired home to cut down the lead runner for the second out of the frame.
Down to its final out, third baseman Stuart Paz stepped to the plate and quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count. The senior worked the count back even before lining a game-tying base hit to centerfield.
Panter would get out of the inning, forcing extra innings.
The Yellow Jackets would bet a leadoff single but, that would be all as Nate Thompson made his return from injury by striking two of the final three hitters out to keep the game tied.
In the home eighth, junior Brock Smith singled to lead off the inning before moving to third on a base hit by Cagle. At that point, West Virginia State intentionally walked Matthew Branham before bringing Jonathon Murphy in out of the bullpen.
Blaum would work the count full before taking ball four up out of the zone for the walk-off walk.
Turner belted his first homerun in the fourth inning as part of a two-run fourth inning that tied the game at 4-4.
WVSU scored a single run in the fifth, sixth and seventh frame to build a 7-4 lead before squandering the lead in the seventh.
Turner went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored while Paz, Smith, Cagle and Blaum had two hits each.
Thompson improved to 2-1 with the scoreless inning of relief work. Freshman Hunter Florow made his first collegiate start and the left-hander did not allow an earned run in three innings of work.
Matthew Washington (1-2) suffered the loss as he allowed a run without recording an out in the eighth frame.
Game two saw WVSU hurler Kenneth Daniels and UVa-Wise starter RJ Vanvickle lock up in a pitcher's duel. The Yellow Jackets struck for a run in the top of the first when Andrew Stone was hit by a pitch with two outs before stealing second and scoring on a Matt Harrison RBI single.
The score would remain unchanged until the third inning when David Thomas belted a game-tying homer over the right field wall.
Neither school would dent the scoreboard again until the sixth inning when the visitors took advantage of a pair of errors to go in front 3-1.
WVSU would seemingly put the game away with a Stone three-run homer to make it a 6-1 game going to the home seventh.
Again, Banner's crew would not go down without a fight. Turner lined a one-out single before Haga walked. The Yellow Jackets then retired Brett Yates to get within one out of a 6-1 victory. From there, Paz and David Thomas each produced run-scoring singles to make it a 6-3 game.
After a Brock Smith walk, Cagle lined an 0-2 pitch through the right side of the infield plating two to make it a 6-5 ball game.
A second comeback bid would go for naught as WVSU recorded the final out via strikeout to earn a split of the doubleheader.
The two schools will be back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. to wrap up the series with a doubleheader.
