Concord Baseball Drops 8-4 Decision at Armstrong Atlantic - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Concord Baseball Drops 8-4 Decision at Armstrong Atlantic

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SAVANNAH, Ga. -

Senior outfielder Bret Blevins went 3-for-5 and junior first baseman Joey Miller hit his first home run of the season in the Concord University baseball team's 8-5 loss at No. 29 Armstrong Atlantic Sunday at Pirate Field in Savannah, Ga.

Blevins' three hits and Miller's home run were both season firsts for the Mountain Lions (0-3). Blevins exits Concord's first series of the year hitting .500 (7-for-14) while Miller has a team-high five RBI.

Sophomore second baseman Jerrod Groves and senior short stop Josh Wenger both went 2-for-4 with Groves scoring one run and driving in another.

In their first starts of the year, freshman outfielder Andrew Seigel and sophomore outfielder T.J. Brockway both produced hits for a CU offense that outhit the Pirates 11-10 Sunday.

Senior pitcher Devin Smith (0-1) struck out five batters, but gave up five runs in 2.1 innings in the loss. Junior pitcher Tim Leather pitched a quality 2.2 innings of relief work to keep Concord in contention, giving up no runs and just one hit in his time on the mound.

AASU did all of its damage against Smith in the second inning. After giving up a single and an RBI-double to lead off the inning, Smith retired two of the next three batters. However, he then loaded the bases with a walk that was followed by a two-run double. Smith surrendered two more runs before ending the inning with a strikeout.

The Mountain Lions were shutout through the first three innings until the CU scored two runs in the fourth off of Miller's home run to left field that scored Blevins, who reached base with a single earlier in the inning.

Concord added another run in the fifth to make it a 5-3 contest. Brockway led off the inning with a double and was moved to third via a successful sacrifice by Seigel and eventually scored when junior catcher Brandon Costa sailed a sacrifice fly to right field.

CU kept its momentum going in the sixth inning by loading the bases to start the frame with a walk from Groves, a double from Blevins and a Miller walk.

Sophomore third baseman Ryan Johnston proceeded to hit into a fielder's choice that allowed Groves to score from third to make it a 5-4 game. But the one run would be all Concord would come away with in the inning as Miller was picked off of second base and Johnston was later caught stealing.

Concord's comeback attempt were shutdown in the Pirates' half of the sixth inning with two AASU runs; another run for the home team came in the seventh inning to give Armstrong an 8-4 lead.

The Mountain Lions added their final run in the ninth, but a two-out rally was cut short by Pirate pitcher Caleb Woods with two runners left on base.

Chase Butler had three RBI for Armstrong Atlantic (6-0).

Concord will play three games at next weekend's CIAA-WVIAC Challenge in King, N.C. starting with a 4:00 p.m. contest vs. Chowan on Friday, Feb. 15.