The Urbana University baseball team dropped both games of Monday’s doubleheader to Fairmont State, 8-1 and 11-0, at Blue Knight Field. The Fighting Falcons claimed the series win after taking three out of four contests from the Blue Knights.
UU fell to 14-17 overall and 8-16 against Mountain East Conference teams while FSU improved to 24-18 (16-8 MEC) on the season.
Game 1
Senior right-hander Dalton Greenwalt, who was charged with the hard-luck loss, fell victim to a few unfortunate plays in the sixth inning that led to a big scoring outbreak for the Falcons. Greenwalt allowed only one earned run on five hits in five-and-two-thirds of work, but a two-out error followed by a pair of hit batters led to a bases-loaded jam.
After a UU pitching change, FSU’s Austin Norman deposited the second pitch he saw over the right-field wall for a grand slam to take the wind out of the Blue Knights. Another run would cross after that and Fairmont held on for the 8-1 victory.
UU recorded seven hits, but had four errors in the field during the opener. Senior first baseman Brent West had two hits while each of the bottom four batters in the UU lineup posted a base knock.
The Blue Knights held a 1-0 lead after Zeth Tanner produced a one-out RBI single off an 0-2 pitch in the bottom of the second. The visitors tied the game in the fourth and then grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fifth, before the six-run outburst in the sixth.
Game 2
The second game belonged to the Falcons as UU managed just three hits across nine innings. FSU starter Tyler Holt, who earned his first win, went six innings while the Falcon bullpen pitched three frames of hitless ball.
Senior Nick Gallagher had two of UU’s three hits.
The Blue Knights continued to struggle in the field with five defensive miscues while the Falcons did not commit an error. UU starter Vitor Takakura threw 72 pitches in three innings of work in the setback.
UU travels to Findlay on Wednesday for the third matchup between the two schools this year. The rubber game is slated to begin at 4 p.m. at Fifth Third Field.
