By Jonathan Rodriguez
For The Montgomery Herald
EAST BANK —
The WVU Tech Golden Bear baseball team dropped both games of a mid-week doubleheader last Tuesday to Bluefield College. Tech entered the outing riding a three-game win streak after sweeping Cincinnati Clermont last weekend, but that weekend was quickly forgotten after Bluefield jumped on the Bears by the scores of 12-2 and 13-6. In the first contest, Bluefield jumped out to a quick lead, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning as Tech’s freshman starting pitcher, Ryan Kessinger, opened up on shaky ground. Tech tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning to pull within three, but Bluefield’s bats were hot, accounting for six runs in the fifth to make the final score 12-2. The second contest proved to be much like the first with Bluefield jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first off of starting pitcher Tyler Wilson. The offensive onslaught for the Rams didn’t stop there, as the visitors scored in all seven innings of the contest en route to plating 13 runs on 17 hits. The highlight of the day for Tech came when senior third baseman Eric Helton hit a grand slam off of Bluefield pitcher Ethan Lewis that was estimated at 415 feet. The Bears opened up Mid-South Conference play last Friday with a four-game set against Georgetown College at Douglas Epling Stadium. (Rodriguez is an intern in the WVU Tech Sports Information Office.)