Box Score BECKLEY, W.Va. – The Notre Dame Falcons scored just a pair of runs on eight hits on Friday evening, as they fell in the second day of play in the MEC tournament, dropping a 6-2 final to Concord. (
Tournament Central)
With the loss, the Falcons now have no margin for error in the double elimination tournament. They'll square off against the No.2 seed West Virginia State, who they battled in the MEC Tournament Finals last year, in an elimination game at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Andy Szamski brought in the first run of the contest for Concord a RBI groundout in the bottom of the first inning, before the Falcons tied it up in the third.
Danny Beaver stroked a one out single to left center, and made his way to second base after a walk was issued to
Travis Smetana. A passed pall pushed Beaver to third, and he scored on
TJ Lett's sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
It didn't take long for Concord to respond, as they took a 2-1 lead on a two-out RBI single from Jerrod Groves in the bottom of the third, and they maintained a lead the rest of the way. The Mountain Lions plated two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-1 lead, and added single runs in the seventh and eighth as well.
The Falcons scored their final run of the contest in the top of the eighth inning. Smetana reached on a one out single, and advanced to second on Lett's bunt base hit. A wild pitch placed Smetana on third, and he scored on a sacrifice fly from
Keifer Quick.
Notre Dame was never able to climb out of the early hole, and had a tough time getting big hits when they needed them.
Josh Armbruster (3-4) took the loss for Notre Dame, after allowing five runs, only three earned on nine hits over seven innings of work. Beaver and
Shane DeFranco both hit safely twice for the Falcons.
The Falcons are in action again on Saturday, May 9, when they continue play in the MEC tournament. Notre Dame will square off against West Virginia State in an elimination game at 3 p.m. If the Falcons win, they'll play again at 7 p.m. You can follow all of the tournament action via Tournament Central.
