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ATHENS, W. Va. - The Concord University baseball team will finish off its season-long nine-game homestand and look to extend its five-game winning streak with a pair of wins against Shepherd University 12:00 p.m. Wednesday at Anderson Field.
Records
Concord enters the midweek series 10-10 overall and 5-2 in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Concord is the only team in the WVIAC-South Division with five league victories.
Shepherd comes to Athens at 8-9 overall and 4-0 in the WVIAC. The Rams have won five consecutive games since beginning the season 3-9.
The Series
The series between Concord and Shepherd has been very close dating back to the 1995 season with the Rams holding a narrow 25-18 advantage. The schools have evenly split the last 10 contests since 2008.
The Coaches
Andrew Wright is 63-63 with one WVIAC Championship in his three seasons at Concord. Wright is 35-20 in home games in his CU coaching career.
Former Ram great Matt McCarty is in his first season as Shepherd's head coach.
Up Next
Concord hits the road for a three-game series at WV State March 23-24.
Last Time Out
• Concord scored 53 runs in three games to sweep Glenville State.
• CU defeated Glenville State by scores of 22-5, 7-6 and 24-4.
• The Mountain Lions out hit Glenville State 47-24 hit five home runs and stole 10 bases.
• Concord also took two games from Wheeling Jesuit 12-7, 11-0.
Scouting Concord
• After a week in which a number of Concord players could have earned the WVIAC's Player of the Week award, it was second baseman
Jerrod Groves, who stood out above the rest for the league honor.
• Groves hit .571 (8-for-14) with eight runs scored and nine RBI, two stolen bases, two doubles while producing an on-base percentage of .647.
• Outfielder
Bret Blevins, Concord's leader in hits this season (28), had eight stolen bases to push his season total to a team-best 12.
• Other offensive juggernauts for Concord in last week's five wins included first baseman
Joey Miller, third baseman
Ryan Johnston and outfielder
Andrew Seigel.
• Miller hit two home runs and drove in six. On the year, Miller leads CU with six home runs, 26 RBI and 22 runs scored.
• Johnston batted .538 (7-for-13) with eight runs, eight RBI and a crucial three-run home run in CU's 7-6 victory against Glenville State.
• Seigel, Concord's speedy freshman, scored 10 runs on 10 hits with three stolen bases.
• On the mound,
Devin Smith started against Wheeling Jesuit in what was his first pitching appearance since February and responded by throwing a five-inning gem. Smith struck out three batters and gave up just one hit to the Cardinals to pick up his first win of the season.
•
Will Zuspan and Cody Justice came on in relief of Smith to throw scoreless innings and secure CU's 11-0 victory to give the Mountain Lions their first shutout of the year.
• Outfielder
Jacob Mays is one of just two Concord players to have reached base in all 20 games this season. Mays' .478 on-base percentage ranks second for Concord.
• After missing six games, shortstop
Josh Wenger returned to the Concord lineup last week, going 4-for-11 with five runs and four RBI. Wenger leads Concord in batting average (.415) and on-base percentage (.545).
• Through 20 games, the bullpen quartet of Zuspan,
Tim Leather,
Kevin Mack and
Chris Kelly have thrown a combined 40 innings, going 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA and 25 strikeouts.
Scouting Shepherd
The Rams are led by starting pitcher Paul Hvozdovic, who earned WVIAC Pitcher of the Week and National College Baseball Writers Association Pitcher of the Week last week.
Hvozdovic went 2-0 on for the Rams. He tossed a complete-game victory over Wheeling Jesuit on Sunday with nine strikeouts and no walks. Hvozdovic fanned two and walked none in five innings in a win over Davis & Elkins earlier in the week.
Offensively, Jake Cook is batting .323 with 15 RBI. Mike Lott has stolen nine bases and scored 13 runs.
