GLENVILLE, W.Va. – Following their season-opening win on Friday, the Mansfield Mountaineers were unable to overcome an early deficit and dropped a 6-1 loss to Concord University on Saturday morning at Glenville State's Sue Morris Sports Complex.
 
Concord worked six walks in the first inning to pick up three runs and an early advantage. The Mountain Lions didn't pick up their first hit until the third inning. 
 
Chase Pepper started for MU and struck out a batter, but had some difficulty finding his rhythm. Joseph DePerno came in relief and pitched four full innings of his own. The senior struck out five batters and allowed just two hits in his first appearance of the season.
 
Behind DePerno, the Mounties strung together some offense in the fourth inning. Carlos Espinosa led the bottom of the inning off with a double to left-center field. Josh Kulina was safe at first on an infield single for back-to-back hits, advancing Espinosa to third. Dom Lopez was able to take a pitch on the outside part of the plate and put it into play to the right side, scoring Espinosa and putting Mansfield on the board.
 
 
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Concord's third baseman Nathan Neff dove to make a nice play on a shot off the bat of Jake Haas to rob him of a hit.  The Mounties' run in the fourth would prove be the only one they could muster.  In addition to their fourth inning knocks, Espinosa and Kulina also drew the only Mansfield walks in the game.
 
Junior transfer Troy Thomas and sophomore Jake Manke went the rest of the way on the hill, each tossing two innings to complete the game for Mansfield.
 
Thomas, who celebrated his 22^nd birthday with the Mounties win on Friday, dominated in the first two innings of his outing, sending the hitters down 1-2-3 in both frames. He came back out in the eighth inning, but the Mountain Lions strung together a few consecutive hits to end his day. Manke cleaned up the eighth and threw two scoreless innings, recording a couple of strikeouts and allowing no walks.
 
Junior captain Brady Mengel collected the first two hits of his 2019 campaign, a couple of singles coming in the fourth and seventh innings. Following his 2-for-4 collegiate debut, freshman Koty Fitzgerald added another hit on Saturday.
 
Concord's Troy Beckner went seven innings, dicing up all 11 strikeouts and walking just one batter in the win. Brett Simmons and Jordan Clark both collected two hits, while Adam Linkous hit an insurance dinger in the eighth for the Mountain Lions.  Concord totaled eight hits and seven walks en route to the 6-1 win. 
 
Mansfield will play their final game of the road trip on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. against West Liberty.