The University of Charleston baseball team emphatically staked its claim to one of the remaining spots in the Mountain East Conference tournament Friday morning, bombarding the conference's South Division champion in order to compete another day and score its first MEC postseason victory.
Adam Jafine threw a complete-game five-hit shutout to help UC to a 7-0 win over Concord in the first game of the loser's bracket of the MEC tournament at Epling Stadium in Beckley. UC (31-21) awaits the loser of Friday's Fairmont State-West Virginia Wesleyan game for a 3 p.m. Saturday showdown. The winner of that game turns right back around at 7 p.m. to play the loser of the 11 a.m. Saturday game. The loser of the 3 p.m. contest is eliminated from the tournament.
Jafine (8-5) fanned nine and walked just two in those nine shutout innings, with 77 of his 119 pitches going for strikes. His catcher, Steven Davis, led the way for Charleston offensively with a 2-for-3, four-RBI day that included a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh that capped UC's scoring.
Despite Concord winning the MEC's South Division and UC entering the tournament as the division's No. 3 seed, the Golden Eagles have fared well against the Mountain Lions this year, taking three of four games in the regular season. On Friday, it was more of the same.
Charleston started the scoring in the bottom of the second, with Taylor Intyre driving home a run with a single through the right side, then Brice Arrington tacking on another with a ground-out RBI. UC put up two more runs in the bottom of the third with Davis' two-run single to left. An Ethan Hunt double to right-center brought in another run in the fourth, and Davis' home sealed the game.
Concord starter Nate Werner took the loss, giving up five runs, two earned, on five hits in 3 1/3 innings.
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The matchups between Shepherd and West Liberty and Fairmont State and West Virginia Wesleyan, scheduled for 3 and 7 p.m., respectively, were both postponed due to inclement weather. Play will resume Saturday at 9:30 a.m.