Concord Set for Four Games Versus West Virginia State

Concord Stats - West Virginia State Stats - Live Video - Live Stats (Game 1) - Live Stats (Game 2) - Live Stats (Game 3) - Live Stats (Game 3)

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team begins Mountain East Conference South Division play this weekend as it hosts West Virginia State for a pair of doubleheaders beginning 1:00 p.m. Saturday and 1:00 p.m. Sunday.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics as well live video for the four-game weekend set. To access the live coverage, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
CU is 15-14 overall with a MEC South-leading record of 8-4.

Concord stepped out of MEC play on Wednesday as it defeated Davis & Elkins, 7-4.

The Mountain Lions trailed 4-0 after five innings, but stormed back with six runs in the sixth innings to take the lead.

The come-from-behind victory was aided by freshman infielder Jakob Divers delivering a two-RBI single in the sixth on a full count pitch while freshman outfielder Carter Shrewsbury came up with his first career RBI on his own two-run single to give Concord a 5-4 lead.

This season, Divers is hitting .419 (13-for-31) with runners in scoring position (RISP), second best on the team behind sophomore outfielder Evan Webb's .440 average with RISP.

Redshirt freshman pitcher Cody Dooley picked up his first career win as he tossed a 1-2-3 sixth inning on a day the Mountain Lions used seven pitchers.

From the fifth inning, the combination sophomore pitcher Noah Tucker, Dooley, senior pitcher Austin Southcott, sophomore pitcher Troy Beckner and senior pitcher Eli Flynn allowed just two base runners while striking out seven batters.

Flynn struck out the side in the ninth to earn his third save of season, tying him for the MEC lead in saves.

Flynn's save also tied him on the all-time saves list at Concord for sixth with Kevin McClung with four saves.

By tossing three innings this weekend, senior pitcher Nate Werner will move into eighth all-time in innings pitched at Concord. Werner has thrown 159.0 innings in his CU career.

Beckner enters the weekend on a streak of not allowing a run in 21.2 innings. In conference play this season, the southpaw has struck out 20 batters in 21 innings while allowing just 10 hits.

Last Thursday at Fairmont State, Beckner limited FSU to four hits while fanning a career-high 12 batters over the course of seven innings.

As a team, the Mountain Lions have an ERA of 4.55 in 12 MEC games this season.

Concord boasts the second-best team batting average in the league, .314.

CU's batting average has climbed recently thanks to a .341 mark in MEC games.

Sophomore second baseman Brett Simmons has four multi-hit games in eight conference starts this season and is hitting .433.

Junior infielder Chad Frazier (.408) and sophomore catcher Jordan Clark (.405) are also hitting above the .400 mark in MEC contests.

Additionally, Frazier is ranked in a tie for 24^th nationally in runs scored this season with (39) and is first in the Atlantic Region in runs scored in 2017.

Frazier is on pace to score over 60 runs this season, and if he did so he would be the first CU player to touch home plate 60 or more times in a season since Ryan Johnston in 2013.

Since Concord hosted Urbana March 20, freshman infielder Nathan Neff has been on a tear at the plate.

Over his last nine games, the Fredericksburg, Virginia native has six multi-hit games in his last nine contests. Neff has seen his average climb from .284 to .353 in that stretch.

With the 7-4 win over Davis & Elkins, head coach Kevin Garrett is now within seven victories of eclipsing 400 career wins.

Garrett owns a career marks of 393-306-3.

Only one other MEC coach has 400 or more Division II wins, West Virginia Wesleyan's Randy Tenney.

Last season, the Mountain Lions and West Virginia State split a four-game set in Institute, West Virginia.

CU won the first and third games of the series while WVSU took games two and four.

Beckner tossed seven innings, allowing one run on two hits while striking out six batters, as Concord won 9-1.

In the final two games of the series, Clark had a home run in each game. Meanwhile, sophomore infielder Trevor Wiersma had multiple hits in two of the four games.

SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA STATE
The Yellow Jackets are 11-14 this season and 4-8 in MEC play.

West Virginia State has posted the best ERA in the league, 4.32, but is still giving up nearly seven runs per game.

Tyrel Panter and Colby Gainer have combined to pitch 67.1 innings this season while surrendering just 12 earned runs and striking out 46 hitters.

Panter is the league leader in ERA (0.95) in his 28.1 innings of work in 2017.

WVSU's first baseman Phil Mandt has blasted nine home runs this season to go along with 23 RBI.

More than half the Yellow Jackets' wins have come away from home with a 5-2 mark on the road while also picking up two wins at a neutral site.