NO MORE MAGIC

POST-SEASON RUN ENDS AT REGIONALS

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Not every season is a fairy tale. Not every tale comes with a happy ending.

The Concord Baseball's team thrilling post-season run came to an abrupt halt Sunday afternoon, when the Mountain Lions fell to East Stroudsburg (PA) 17-3 in an elimination game in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region tournament in Lancaster, PA.

CU went 1-2 at the regional and its season ends at 27-26. But the Mountain Lions won 13 of their last 18 games, including their magical march to the WVIAC championship last weekend, and lose just three seniors off this year's roster.

Sunday's game began to unravel quickly. East Stroudsburg jumped on Concord starting pitcher for two runs in the top of the 1st inning, then took command with five more runs in the 2nd. Evan Gallagher drew a walk to start the inning, and Jake Griesemer singled. Proctor got Eric Boyer to pop out, but walked Brian Ernst to load the bases.

CU head coach Andrew Wright replaced Proctor with Dustin Nuckels, who threw a solid 1 2/3 innings of relief in yesterday's win over Winston-Salem State. Chris Knott greeted Nuckels with a hard-hit ground ball to SS Keith Morrisroe; the ball took a bad hop and bounced off Morrisroe's shoulder and rolled into left field. Gallagher came in to score.
Eric Forth followed with an RBI single and Nico Delerme followed with a run-scoring ground out. Ryan Guarino, the #8 hitter in the Warriors' lineup, delivered the big blow – a two-run single to left field that gave ESU a 7-0 lead.

East Stroudsburg blew the game open with a seven-run outburst in the 4th. The Warriors sent 12 batters to the plate, benefitting from three walks and a hit batsman. Four different hitters delivered RBI singles, including Griesemer's two-out, two-run base hit that made the score 13-0. Boyer's RBI single closed out the rally.

Concord reached ESU starting pitcher Mike Glassic with three runs in the bottom of the 4th. Glassic hit Mays with a pitch to start the inning (the 29th HBP for Mays this season), and Josh Wenger rocketed an RBI double into the left field corner.
Nick Sydnor walked and Bret Blevins singled to left to load the bases. One out later, Ian Humphrey stroked an RBI single to center, and Zach Cloxton capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly.

East Stroudsburg would score once in the 7th and twice in the 9th as Wright had position players Kyle Webb and Josh Wenger move to the mound to pitch the last six innings.

Concord's pitchers struggled, issuing a combined nine walks, hitting two batters and giving up 20 hits.

Humphrey led the CU offense by going 2-3 with an RBI; he was 4-9 for the weekend. Sydnor reached base twice in four plate appearances and Randy Beard reached twice in five trips.

Forth topped ESU by going 3-4 with an RBI, a walk and two runs scored.
Glassic limited CU to five hits in seven innings to get the win, his first of the season.


BOXSCORE/PLAY-BY-PLAY


Concord started the 2011 season 0-5, and after being swept in a three-game series by the University of Charleston, found themselves at 14-21 with the season dwindling down.

The Mountain Lions then reeled off eight wins in their last 11 regular season games, barely qualifying for the WVIAC Tournament as the fourth and final seed in the Southern Division. But once CU began the post-season, they seemed unstoppable, defeating Seton Hill, Davis & Elkins, Wheeling Jesuit and West Virginia State in the span of four days to claim the conference championship.

Concord was making its first NCAA appearance since 2009.

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