The Urbana University baseball team celebrated its 11 seniors on Sunday and came away with a doubleheader split against Fairmont State. The Blue Knights picked up a 4-2 win in a great bounce-back effort after falling 13-5 in the opener. The two teams meet again at Blue Knight Field today with the first game slated for 1 p.m. ET.
UU moves to 14-25 overall and 8-14 in league play, remaining in third place behind FSU in the Mountain East Conference North Division. The Falcons are now 22-18 (14-8 MEC) overall.
Game 1
The visitors scored in every inning except the first in the seven-inning contest that took two hours and 42 minutes to play.
UU got on the board with a run in the third inning, making the score 4-1 Falcons. Brad Burkholder, who went 2 for 4 in both games, scored the first run when Brent West chopped a grounder up the middle with two outs and the bases loaded. Running from first base, Damario Brown beat the second baseman in a foot race to the bag which allowed the run to score.
The Blue Knights would add four runs over the final two frames but the deficit proved too much. Fairmont St. led 11-1 going to the sixth and then UU pushed three runs across to make it 11-4 after two came across on a Burkholder liner up the middle and another on a Daniel Quiroz grounder. Senior John Hale produced the final run with an RBI double in the seventh.
Burkholder and Isac Franklin each recorded two hits to lead the Blue Knights. UU ended up being outhit, 16-8, as seven of the nine FSU batters had a multi-hit performance.
Right-hander Patrick Orr (1-4) took the loss on the mound for UU, while left-hander Michael Stout (7-3) earned the win. Impressively, Stout remained in the game to register six innings after getting struck on the head by a hard line drive in the bottom of the third.
Game 2
Senior right-hander Adam Guay continued his streak of quality outings with a complete-game win, improving to 5-1 which is tied for the third-most victories among MEC pitchers. Guay, who has now pitched six or more innings in five consecutive starts, allowed the only two runs in the eighth inning. He fired a career-high nine innings while scattering seven hits with five strikeouts and zero walks allowed.
UU put up three runs in the first inning to give Guay all the support he needed.
Franklin got it started with a leadoff walk and then West knocked him in two batters later on a sacrifice fly to left. With one out, Nick Gallagher roped an RBI triple to right center and then Tanner Davis slapped an RBI single to left field to make it 3-0. West registered another RBI in the second frame after getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Guay fired 114 pitches and only allowed two runners to reach third base during the first seven innings. After a prolonged eighth inning, he came right back to retire the side in order to close the door in the ninth.
UU managed just six hits, but had nine runners reach base via walk, hit by pitch, or error. Burkholder was the only player with two hits, while the bottom four batters of the UU lineup combined for five base knocks.
FSU right-hander Matt Maiers (4-3) was charged with the loss.
