Concord Stats –
Notre Dame Stats –
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MEC Tournament Central ATHENS, W. Va. – After tying the school-record for single-season wins to end the regular season, the surging Concord University baseball team now sets its sight on winning a conference title beginning 3:00 p.m. Thursday vs. Notre Dame College at the 2014 Mountain East Conference Tournament at Epling Stadium in Beckley, West Virginia.
The top six teams in the MEC standings (Shepherd, Concord, West Virginia State, Urbana, Notre Dame and West Liberty) qualified for postseason play. The tournament will be a double elimination event running from Thursday to Sunday.
Live Coverage• The MEC will provide live in-game statistics for every game throughout the conference tournament as well as audio for all games played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Click
here to access all live coverage options.
Records and Standings• Concord enters the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed after ending the regular season with an overall record of 36-14 and a league mark of 33-11.
• Notre Dame secured the tournament's fifth seed by tallying an overall record of 24-20 and a mark of 22-17 in MEC completion. The Falcons come into the Thursday's game having split their last six games.
The Series• The Mountain Lions hold a 7-1 edge over Notre Dame in the all-time series. Concord swept a four-game series against the Falcons earlier in the season at Anderson Field.
Last Meeting• Senior first baseman
Joey Miller hit one home run and recorded four RBI while the trio of freshman
Zach Kelly, senior
Tim Leather and senior
Chris Baker combined to toss a six-hit shutout as the Mountain Lions closed out a four-game home sweep of NDC with a 7-0 win on March 9.
Mountain Lion Notes• Concord is no stranger to competing at Epling Stadium; the Mountain Lions won four consecutive games at the Beckley, West Virginia complex to capture last season's West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship. Dating back to 2011, CU is 13-3 at Epling Stadium.
• If the Mountain Lions defeat Notre Dame in its tournament-opening contest, they would move on to play the winner of the West Virginia State – Urbana game 7:00 p.m. Friday. A loss to the Falcons in the double elimination tournament would put CU into an elimination game against the loser of the Shepherd – West Liberty tilt 11:00 a.m. Friday.
• As a team, Concord ranks second in the nation with nine shutouts and 15
th in the country in batting average at .331. The Mountain Lions' pitching staff, which has recorded a 3.70 ERA, is also 17
th in all of NCAA Division II in walks allowed per nine innings.
• Concord is coming off of a sweep of UVa.-Wise that saw the Mountain Lions score 51 runs over the weekend; the most runs by CU in a four-game series this season.
• Miller, who earned MEC Hitter of the Week and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Regional Hitter of the Week honors for his performance vs. UVa.-Wise, currently leads the country in RBI with 68. In 50 games this season, Miller is batting .393 with 43 runs and 12 home runs in addition to on-base and slugging percentages of .440 and .718.
• Concord's No. 1 – 3 starting pitching rotation of senior
Ryan Weatherholtz (7-4), senior
Tyler Coyle (7-2) and sophomore
Chris Kelly (7-2) have combined to go 21-8 on the year. The last time CU had three pitchers with at least seven wins was in 2008 (Trey Smith – 7, Donovan Huffer -- 7, Allen Schurdell -- 7)
• Weatherholtz, who has allowed just two runs in his last 25.2 innings pitched, leads the unit with a 2.83 ERA and 55 strikeouts. Weatherholtz's seven complete games in 2014 are the 13
th most in NCAA Division II.
• Coyle has won five consecutive starts and has lowered his ERA nearly a full point in his last five outings from 4.63 on April 5 to 3.64 after Saturday's game two victory against UVa.-Wise.
• Senior outfielder
Bret Blevins is in the process of turning in another standout season for the Mountain Lions. Blevins leads Concord in batting average (.407), hits (61) and stolen bases (25) in addition to driving in 35 runs. Blevins, who already holds the school record for career stolen bases, is just eight hits away from tying Huffer for the most hits in Concord history at 276. His 19-game hitting streak is also a team-season long.
• Other Concord players on multi-game hitting streaks at the conclusion of the regular season include junior second baseman
Jerrod Groves (eight games), Miller (five games), junior third baseman
Ryan Johnston (five games) and sophomore shortstop
Brad Sullivan (five games).
• Concord is 21-4 since Groves has taken over as the Mountain Lions' leadoff hitter. He has scored a career-high 50 runs and is batting .353 in 2014.
• Out of the bullpen, Leather and Baker have allowed just four of their last 14 of their inherited runners to score (28.6 percent).
• Concord is 26-5 on the season when scoring first, 21-6 in when scoring in the first inning of games and 30-1 when leading after four innings of play.
Scouting Notre Dame• Keifer Quick is Notre Dame's only hitter with a batting average of .300 or better. On the year, he is hitting .323 with 20 runs, three home runs and 23 RBI.
• Ryan Sanders has hit a team-high five home runs to go with 20 RBI for the Falcons in 2014.
• Reigning MEC Pitcher of the Week Matt Kastelic is one of two Notre Dame pitchers with seven wins on the year, going 7-4 with a 2.80 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched. Jake Welch has also totaled a record of 7-3 with a matching 2.80 ERA and a team-high 76 strikeouts.
The Coaches•
Andrew Wright is in his fourth season at Concord. Since taking over the program, Wright has guided the Mountain Lions to a pair of conference titles and a record of 125-87 (.590).
• Former Major League pitcher Len Barker, who threw a perfect game for the Cleveland Indians in 1981, is in his third season as Notre Dame's head coach. Barker is 57-75-1 for the Falcons.
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