UU baseball, softball teams swept

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The Urbana University softball team dropped a pair of games at West Virginia Wesleyan Saturday afternoon with final scores of 10-2 and 7-5.

UU falls to 1-14 overall on the year while West Virginia Wesleyan improves to 27-3.

Savannah Sturgill and Courtney Stewart each homered in the second game as the Blue Knights racked up 11 hits. Learic Kinser led the way with three hits for her seventh multi-hit effort and Nikki Holthaus finished 2-for-4 at the plate.

The Blue Knights overcame a 5-0 deficit in Game 2 by plating five runs of their own in the sixth. Jackson led off with a single and Sturgill followed with her two-run blast to make it 5-2. Sturgill leads UU with three home runs on the year.

After two more hits, Jenna VanHoose knocked home Courtney Kennedy and WVWC changed pitchers with one out and the score 5-3. Stewart stepped in next and greeted the Bobcat reliever with another two-run homer to even the score at 5-5.

However, the momentum was short-lived as WVWC responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth and held on for the 7-5 win.

Stewart was handed the loss in the circle after throwing six innings and giving up five earned runs. Bobcat reliever Sayaka Foley picked up the win.

In Game 1, the Bobcats scored in every inning except the fifth and out-hit UU 10-8. The Blue Knights were able to plate one in the third and one in the fifth but it wasn’t enough.

Catcher Margo Jackson went 2-for-3 and Stewart delivered both runs for UU.

Baseball

UU’s baseball team couldn’t carry its momentum over from Friday’s sweep and fell in a pair of cross-divisional league games to Concord Saturday at home.

UU (7-15, 3-5) dropped the first game 7-3 and then suffered a tough 15-3 setback in Game 2. Concord improved to 10-14 overall on the season.

The Blue Knights couldn’t catch a break as six of the seven Concord runs were unearned. UU starter Jackson Everman was solid through four, but fell into trouble after a two-out walk ignited a four-run rally and 5-3 lead for the visitors. Everman finished with 5.2 innings of work and surrendered five hits with one strikeout.

Earlier in the contest, the top of the order came through for UU when Aaron Finlay’s two-run single put UU ahead 3-1 in the third. With one out in the inning, Mickey Barea turned the lineup over with a single and Damario Brown followed with another hit. DJ Collins kept it going with an RBI base knock and then scored on Finlay’s hit.

But that was about as much offense as UU could muster in the opener as Finlay and Brown posted four of the team’s seven hits. The Blue Knights had just two runners reach base in their final three at-bats.

The Mountain Lions added two more in the sixth and also registered seven hits during the contest. Concord’s Troy Beckner (1-4) earned the complete-game win with seven strikeouts.

In game two, it was Concord which grabbed a 3-1 lead in the third and then the Mountain Lions caught fire in the late innings.

Both teams hit well as CU outslugged UU 15-11, but the Blue Knights failed to manufacture runs by leaving 11 runners on base.

Enmanuel Lopez knocked in all three of UU’s runs and finished 3-for-4 with two doubles. The senior outfielder is having a career season with team highs in home runs (2), doubles (9), and RBI (18). He finished the weekend hitting .539 with five doubles.

UU starter Dalton Greenwalt ran out of gas in the sixth and was charged with the loss. The right-hander struggled at times with four walks but was solid enough to keep the Blue Knights within striking distance.

The Blue Knights plated a pair of runs in the seventh on a Lopez double and trailed 7-3. However, Concord put the game out of reach with a combined eight runs over the final two frames.

Mickey Barea went 3-for-4 and Connor Coy received the start in left field and finished 2-for-3 at the plate. Brent West also registered two hits for the Blue Knights.

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