BECKLEY, W. Va. -- The baseball program at Shawnee State rallied from a 5-0 deficit after the opening inning of play to take leads of 7-6, 8-7, 9-8 and 11-10, but the Bears ultimately dropped a 13-10 decision to West Virginia Tech in a barnburner of a River States Conference baseball contest that was held at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley, W. Va. Friday evening.

In a game that had 34 hits in all, Shawnee State plated 11 runs on 16 hits as the Bears continued to see the baseball well at the plate -- raising its team average to .316 as a unit for the season in the setback.

After initially trailing by a 5-0 margin after the opening inning of work, Shawnee State began rallying -- as Hunter Warner's leadoff single to begin the second inning and a passed ball allowed Zach Gaspar to drive in Warner from scoring position. A walk by Ryan Scott, a base knock by Tyler Lund and a bases loaded free pass to Nolan Tressler then cut West Virginia Tech's advantage to a 5-2 margin heading into the bottom of the second frame.

While WV Tech placed a run back to its lead in the bottom of the second frame, Shawnee State answered with a crooked fourth frame to take the lead.

Following an error and a passed ball, Ryan Scott's RBI single to center field scored Gaspar while Gaspar's base knock was followed by back-to-back singles by Tyler Lund and Nolan Tressler, resulting in another run to cut the West Virginia Tech lead to a 6-4 margin.

Then, after RBI groundouts by Eli Jones and Diego Mendoza tied the score at six-all, Mason Reid followed with a solo homer to left -- helping the Bears to turn a 5-0 deficit after the first inning into a 7-6 advantage after the fourth frame of play.

Over the fourth, fifth and sixth frames, SSU and WV Tech duked it out -- with both teams ultimately battling one another to a 9-9 tie as solo homers -- one by Gaspar in the fifth and one by Mendoza in the sixth -- helped Shawnee State stay right in the thick of the battle. 

Heading into the top of the ninth frame, Shawnee State trailed by a 10-9 margin as West Virginia Tech produced a RBI sacrifice fly to claim a one-run lead. However, the Bears rallied again. One-out singles by Gaspar and Wyatt Haupt were followed by a two-out intentional walk and then a critical two-out, two-RBI base knock that gave SSU an 11-10 lead -- and put the pressure on West Virginia Tech.

Despite this, West Virginia Tech was able to score three unanswered on two homers, as Broedy Boyce's solo shot tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and sent the contest to extra innings, while Michael Adams' two-run homer in the 10th walked things off.

At the plate, Gaspar (3-for-4, home run, double, two RBI, four runs scored), Lund (3-for-5, double, run scored), Mendoza (2-for-6, home run, two RBI, run scored), Reid (2-for-5, walk, home run, RBI, run scored) and Warner (2-for-6, run scored) led Shawnee State with multi-hit performances while Tressler (1-for-3, three walks, two RBI, run scored), Jones (1-for-6, three RBI), Scott (1-for-3, walk, RBI, run scored) and Haupt (1-for-1, run scored) all reached the hit column as well.

With the setback, Shawnee State fell to 17-11 and 7-6 in the River States Conference. The Bears still have a chance to win the series if Shawnee State can take both contests of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader against West Virginia Tech. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley, W. Va.