SALISBURY, Md. – Sophomore left-hander Dan Fein pitched his first collegiate complete game, allowing five hits over seven innings as the No. 4 Salisbury University baseball team won the second game of its Capital Athletic Conference doubleheader with Frostburg State University, 3-1 at the SU Baseball Field on Saturday.
The Bobcats came from behind with four runs in the final three innings for a 5-4 victory in the opener.
Fein, who improved to 5-0 with the game-two win and allowed his first earned run of the season in his seventh outing, struck out four and walked none for Salisbury (17-5, 6-3 CAC).
Junior center fielder Bill Root was 1-for-3 with a double and run scored to lead the offense for the Sea Gulls, who outhit the Bobcats, 6-5, in the nightcap.
Root led off the game with his double and moved to third on an error by left fielder Rob Jennings. Ken O'Neill followed with a ground ball to shortstop to give SU an early 1-0 lead.
The Gulls increased their lead in the second as Evan Graci walked and advanced to third on a Breen double to left. With one out, Chris Gaines' groundout to pitcher Austin Poretz made it 2-0.
Frostburg State (14-10, 3-6 CAC) got a run back in the bottom of the second. Fein surrendered a two-out double to left by Zach Keeler and a Danny Morris single through the right side of the infield for the pitcher's first earned run given up in 28 innings this season.
That's the way it stayed for four innings as Fein and Poretz, who also tossed a complete game in the loss, matched each other pitch-for-pitch. Poretz allowed six hits and one earned run with four walks and four strikeouts.
SU tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Austin Barefoot worked a two-out walk and Gaines singled to right. Gaines and pinch runner Myles Illian moved up on a wild pitch before Illian scored on an error by Ryan McGuigan at short.
Trailing, 5-3, in the top of the seventh of the first game, Root reached with a bunt single and moved to second on a ground out. Nick Gentry followed with a double down the right-field line to score Root, cutting the lead in half. After an intentional walk to Quinn Griffith, Graci doubled, but pinch runner Kyle Hayman was cut down at the plate for the second out.
FSU reliever Kenny Georgius then got Breen swinging to end the game with Griffith standing on second.
Salisbury scored runs in the first three innings to stake right-hander Brett Collacchi (4-1) to a 3-1 lead through three innings, before the Bobcats chipped away with one run each in the fourth and fifth innings and two more in the sixth to take the lead.
Tied, 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Frostburg State used an RBI double to right-center field from Dylan Shupe, followed by a sacrifice fly for the advantage.
Salisbury, acting as the visitor for the weekend due to poor field conditions in Frostburg, Md., opened the scoring in the top of the first when Root reached on an error and came around to score on two more to make it 1-0.
After FSU tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a Shupe single, the Sea Gulls responded. Johnny Schiotis doubled down the left-field line with two outs to plate Breen, who singled, to retake the lead. SU added to the lead in the third with an RBI double by Breen.
Frostburg State, however, got to Collacchi and reliever Danny Druzgala in the fourth and fifth for a pair of runs to tie the game.
Georgius earned the win with four innings of one-run relief. He scattered four hits and a walk while fanning two.
Sophomore Collacchi took his first collegiate loss in five-plus innings of work. He surrendered five hits, four runs (three earned) and three walks while striking out three.
Breen was 3-for-4 with a double, run scored and an RBI while Kevin Kean and Shupe each collected two hits for the Bobcats.
Salisbury heads across town on Tuesday to play the Delmarva Shorebirds, the Single-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in exhibition action at 7:05 p.m.