Charleston's Owen MacNeil tames Concord Mountain Lions with no-hitter
Terriers’ RHP Owen MacNeil (Georgetown, Ont.) had no-hit stuff as Charleston swept the Concord Mountain Lions
April 30, 2024
Official University of Charleston News Release
MacNeil No-Hits Concord in Charleston's Series Sweep
Charleston, W.Va. – The Golden Eagles traveled to Buckhannon, West Virginia for a four game Mountain East Conference series. Charleston defeated West Virginia Wesleyan in all four games to sweep the series and add four more wins in conference play.
GAME 1
The Basics:
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 6, CU 2
Records: UC 33-7 (20-3 MEC), Concord 24-15 (14-9)
How it Happened:
Dwayne Sumler came out hot on the mound on Friday, sitting the first three Mountain Lions down in order, two by way of strikeouts. After a quick top of the first, the Golden Eagle bats got started, Drew Klaserner leading the way with a leadoff single to right field. Two batters later, Casey Finck drove a ball to deep right field, good enough to touch all the bases and give Charleston their first two runs.
In the top of the fourth, Concord found their way onto the scoreboard after drawing two free bases after being hit by pitches, a single and a free pass walk to score their first run.
The Golden Eagles tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth with the hot hitting combo of Casey Finck and JD Armstrong. After a Drew Klaserner single, a Casey Finck two out double scored the first run of the inning. JD Armstrong then followed with a triple to right field to score Finck and extend Charleston's lead to 4-1.
In the top of the sixth, Concord scored their second run of the ballgame, but Charleston responded in the bottom half of the inning with two more runs to extend their lead, 6-2 over Concord. The first run was scored on a squeeze bunt by Eric Charier and then Drew Klaserner collected and RBI on a sacrifice fly that scored Damian Witty previously in the inning.
Trey Ritchie entered on the mound for Charleston in the top of the seventh and after a Golden Eagle throwing error, Ritchie sat the next three Mountain Lions down to secure the Charleston victory.
GAME 2
The Basics:
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 6, CU 0
Records: UC 34-7 (21-3 MEC), Concord 24-16 (14-10)
How it Happened:
Charleston's Owen MacNeil tossed a no-hitter to defeat the Concord Mountain Lions. The Golden Eagles plated six runs in the contest to back MacNeil and earn the victory.
The first run was scored in the bottom of the first on a Casey Finck RBI. Finck grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but with the bases loaded the Golden Eagles plated a run.
Charleston then tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the second inning. Damian Witty led the inning off with a walk, and Carter Rust followed with a triple down the right field line to score Witty. Klaserner then doubled to right field, Rust scoring on the hit. The final run of the inning came off a JD Armstrong single to right field that scored Klaserner from second.
Charleston plated another run in the bottom of the fifth on a Concord error in left field, and their final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, AJ Karosas getting credit for the RBI on a single up the middle to score Armstrong.
MacNeil collected the no-hitter, striking out five Mountain Lions and allowing just two free passes in the seven innings pitched. JD Armstrong also went 4-4 in the game with an RBI and a stolen base.
GAME 3
The Basics:
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 2, CU 1
Records: UC 35-7 (22-3 MEC), Concord 24-17 (14-11)
How it Happened:
In game three of the series, both teams struggled to get on the board, the first run not coming until the fifth inning. The run came in the top of the fifth inning after a Charleston pitching change. With a runner on second and one out, Charleston suffered a wild pitch to move the Mountain Lion runner over the third. On the next pitch, a pass ball allowed the runner to score, Concord taking the 1-0 lead.
Charleston could not muster a run, coming down to their final three outs in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Drew Klaserner launched a fly ball into left field that the Concord left fielder was camped under, but the sun caused a problem as he missed the ball and Klaserner advanced all the way to third base. Concord got the next batter to foul out to first base, needing just one out to secure the victory. Once again, the combo of Casey Finck and JD Armstrong had other plans. Finck singled into right field to score Klaserner and load the bases, and then Armstrong followed with a ball in the right center gap that scored Finck from first to walk it off and take the 2-1 come from behind victory.
GAME 4
The Basics:
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 10, CU 4
Records: UC 36-7 (23-3 MEC), Concord 24-18 (14-12)
How it Happened:
The Golden Eagles found themselves trailing in the bottom of the first after giving up a run to the Mountain Lions in the top half of the inning. Charleston responded with three runs on three hits to quickly take the lead, 3-1.
In the bottom of the third, Charleston tacked on a fourth run off a Damian Witty sacrifice fly to right field that scored Hector Carreon-Herrera who previously reached on single.
The 4-1 lead did not hold for long as Concord loaded the bases in the top of the fourth and then cleared them with a double to tie the game at 4-4. Concord then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases once again, but Charleston brought in Campbell Spradling to collect the final out for Charleston.
The Golden Eagles headed to the plate where JD Armstrong led things off with a walk to open the bottom half of the inning. Next man to the plate, Casey Finck hit a laser line drive over the left field wall at 107 miles per hour to give Charleston the 6-4 lead.
The Golden Eagles scored four more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on three hits and one Concord error.
Jimmy Breen closed out the seventh inning and collected the save for the Golden Eagles.