Last year, Concord's baseball team put on a late-season rush to win the WVIAC and qualify for the NCAA tournament.
This year, the Mountain Lions are expected to be strong from the start.
Concord is ranked 7th in the National Baseball Coaches Association pre-season Atlantic Region poll, and three CU players have received All-Region notice.
Shortstop Keith Morrisroe and utility player Jacob Mays made the 2nd Team, with third baseman Josh Wenger named an Honorable Mention.
In 2011, under first-year head coach Andrew Wright, Concord recovered from a slow start to win 12 of its last 15 games against WVIAC opponents, including a historic run to the conference tournament championship at Epling Stadium in Beckley.
That league title came with an automatic bid to the NCAA Atlantic Region playoffs, in which CU posted a 1-2 record. The strong finish helped Concord end the season over .500, at 27-26.
Concord has 16 players returning from last year's squad. Ten were starters or significant contributors – among them, the pre-season All-Region trio of Morrisroe, Mays and Wenger.
Morrisroe (right) moved from catcher to shortstop last season and posted a solid .987 fielding percentage. At the plate, the team captain hit .357, with a .457 on-base percentage, a .456 slugging percentage, 36 RBIs, 20 stolen bases and only six strikeouts in 182 at-bats.
Morrisroe was named the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings' 2011 Atlantic Region Golden Glove 1st Team shortstop and to the ABCA's All-Atlantic Region 2nd Team. He was also 1st Team All-WVIAC and a named to the All-Atlantic Region 3rd Team by Daktronics and the NCBWA.
Mays (left), splitting time between the outfields and pitching, was a WVIAC Honorable Mention performer in 2011. He topped CU's regulars with a .382 batting average and a .521 on-base percentage. He hit 14 doubles and drove in 36 runs while stealing 16 bases.
On the mound, he appeared in 19 games – 12 as a starter – posting a 4-5 record in 80 innings of work.
Wenger (right) led Concord with 16 doubles and 52 RBIs in 52 games, and tied for the team lead in triples, with six. He hit .339, including a .500 mark with runners on base and .385 with runners in scoring position. He was 2nd Team All-WVIAC and 2nd Team NCBWA All-Atlantic Region.
Concord is one of four WVIAC teams in the NCBWA region poll. Morrisroe, Wenger and Mays are among ten WVIAC players to receive all-region votes.
Concord opens its 2012 campaign this weekend with a three-game non-conference series at Wingate University (NC). The Mountain Lions and Bulldogs will play a seven-inning doubleheader at 1:00 pm on Saturday, February 4, followed by a single nine-inning game at 1:00 pm on Sunday, February 5.
