BECKLEY - A hot start gave the University of Charleston some early momentum Thursday in its Mountain East Conference baseball tournament opener against North Division champion Shepherd, enough for the Golden Eagles to hang tough with the Rams for much of the game.
But Shepherd finally broke away late, using a five-run eighth inning to pull away at Linda K. Epling Stadium and send UC into the tournament's losers bracket with a 10-6 setback.
The Golden Eagles (30-21) will play South Division champ Concord at 11 a.m. Friday. The loser of that game is eliminated from the tournament.
Despite a pair of solo home runs from leadoff hitter Austin Hathaway, Charleston was unable to stem the tide in the eighth and keep Shepherd (29-21) from breaking a 5-5 tie. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Jacob Carney put the Rams ahead with an RBI single through the left side. Brenton Doyle added a run with a sacrifice fly to right. Then, with two down in the eighth, Ron Farley's triple scored three runs to put Shepherd ahead 10-5.
Hathaway got one run back in the top of the ninth with his second homer, but that was a close as the Golden Eagles would come. Hathaway provided an instant boost at the game's start, blasting a home run over the center-field fence in the game's first at-bat. A Davis RBI double gave Charleston a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Shepherd chipped away and eventually took a 4-2 lead, scoring a run in the first, one in the third and two in the fourth. Charleston tied the game again with two runs in the top of the fifth, and Shepherd pushed ahead again with a Farley home run in the bottom of the fifth. Ethan Hunt's sacrifice fly to left in the top of the sixth tied the game at 5-5, where it stood until Shepherd's big eighth inning.
Ryan Potts earned the win in relief for Shepherd, giving up one earned run on three hits in three innings, striking out three and walking one. Robert Fultineer took the loss for Charleston in relief, allowing five earned runs on five hits in three innings. Kaleb Kinder started for UC, going four innings and allowing four runs, three earned on eight hits.
Shepherd will play at 3 p.m. Friday against West Liberty.
Fairmont State 12, Concord 6: The Falcons pounded out 18 hits, led by Austin Norman (5 for 5, three doubles, four RBIs) and Ben Myers (4 for 6). Tyler Hill had a home run and three RBIs for Fairmont State (29-22), which will play at 7 p.m. Friday against Wesleyan. Winning pitcher Michael Stout (9-3) allowed two runs on eight hits in six innings. Paul Williams and Chad Frazier both had three hits for Concord (26-24), which meets UC in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Friday.
West Virginia Wesleyan 14, West Liberty 12 (13 innings): The Bobcats plated a pair of runs in the top of the 13th inning to survive a wild opening-round nightcap. Tied at 12 in the 13th inning, John Koon and Austin Keene had RBI singles to provide the difference for Wesleyan (23-28). The Bobcats play Fairmont State Friday at 7 p.m. West Liberty plays Shepherd at 3 p.m. on Friday.