Concord Stats -
UVa.-Wise Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video
ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team wraps up the regular season with a home-and-home series against UVa.-Wise 12:00 p.m. Friday at Anderson Field and 3:00 p.m. Sunday at UVa.-Wise's Stallard Field.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: Both the Concord University and UVa.-Wise Spots Information Departments will provide live in-game statistics for the series.
Video: Live streaming video will also be available for all both doubleheaders.
PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
CU enters the weekend with a mark of 29-15 and is 17-11 against Mountain East Conference foes.
UVa.-Wise is 25-21 this season and 19-9 in the league.
The Mountain Lions can secure a spot in next week's MEC Tournament by winning three games over UVa.-Wise OR by having the same number of conference wins as West Virginia State, who plays Charleston, on the weekend. Currently, WVSU is 18-10 in the MEC.
THE GREAT EIGHT
Prior to Friday's doubleheader Concord will recognize eight seniors. The CU baseball senior class has won 103 games and will be looking for their first 30-win season as a class this weekend. The class is made up of pitcher
Troy Beckner, catcher
Jordan Clark, pitcher
Will Guay, infielder
Brett Simmons, infielder
Ian Southcott, pitcher
Noah Tucker, outfielder
Evan Webb and pitcher
James Wood.
Last weekend at Charleston, Beckner became the career strikeout leader in program history and now has 226 for his career. Additionally, the Roanoke, Virginia native ranks second in innings pitched (261), sixth in wins (20), eighth in complete game (11) and 11
th in career ERA (4.55). This weekend, Beckner will tie for the all-time lead in games started at Concord by making his 50
th career start. Beckner has twice been All-MEC including a first-team nod in 2017.
Like Beckner, Clark appears in the Mountain Lion baseball record book several. Clark is approaching 200 career RBI as he ranks second with 193. Clark is third in career home runs with 33 and his next long ball would tie Rob Annicelli for second at Concord. He is three doubles away from joining the top 10 as he sits at 39 career two-base hits. And his 218 hits rank tied for 10
th at Concord. The Scott Depot, West Virginia native is a two-time All-MEC selection and was an all-region pick during his sophomore season in 2017.
In just two years, Guay has joined the Concord record book in career strikeouts with 128 which ranks ninth all-time. This season, the West Palm, Beach Florida native is 5-3 with a 2.84 ERA and has 64 strikeouts in 57. His 64 strikeouts are tied for sixth-most in a single season at CU and rank fifth in the MEC. Additionally, his current ERA would rank fourth in a single season.
Simmons is having a career run as he has tallied his first career 50-hit season and his .314 batting average is his first season above .300. Simmons has driven in 34 runs this season, ranking first among second basemen in the MEC. The Callaway, Virginia eclipsed 150 career hits with a three-hit performance against Bluefield State on Tuesday night. Over his career, Simmons has appeared in 177 career games.
Since transferring from WVU Tech prior to the 2017 season, Southcott has made 37 appearances in the Maroon and Gray and has recorded 10 RBI. Tucker has pitched in 20 games over the course of his career. Wood has appeared on the mound six times in his career and due to injury is Concord's first base coach this season.
After moving from the mound to the field for the final three years of his career, Webb has 174 career hits and 137 RBI. His 41 career doubles rank just outside the top 10 while his 72 career walks rank in a tie for ninth in program history. Entering the weekend, Webb is leading the MEC in on-base percentage at .514 and is third in batting average at .390.
30 FOR 30
The Mountain Lions enter the weekend looking for their sixth 30-win season in program history. The first 30-win season for Concord came in 2000 and head coach
Kevin Garrett has been a part of one other 30-win season in 2008 when the Maroon and Gray won 35 contests. The last 30-win season for CU was in 2015 when it won exactly 30.
HOME COOKIN'
Concord is 15-4 this season at home while UVa.-Wise is 7-16 away from Stallard Field. CU is looking to equal last year's home win count of 17. And if Concord were to sweep the doubleheader on Friday it would be the best home win percentage of .809 since the 2014 team won 84 percent (21-of-25) of its home games.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Last season, the Mountain Lions did not clinch a spot in the MEC Tournament until the last swing of the regular season on a walk-off single by junior outfielder
Adam Linkous versus UVa.-Wise. CU will not be able to secure a potential MEC Tournament bid until Sunday. Last season, Linkous was 9-for-17 against the Cavaliers in the four-game set. Last season, the two teams played two one-run games including UVa.-Wise getting a base hit in a walk-off win in game two of the series. This season, Concord is 9-5 in games decided by one or two runs. The Cavaliers are 13-11 in games decided by two runs or less this season.
UVA.-WISE AT A GLANCE
The Cavaliers are led by their catcher Tyler Blaum who is hitting .386 with four home runs and 27 RBI. The UVa.-Wise backstop has thrown out 15 base runners in 48 attempts. Despite hitting just .227, Dawson Cagle has a team-best eight home runs. Third baseman Tristan Peccerelli has come on strong as of late and is hitting .304 with six home runs and 32 RBI. On the mound, Greg Duncan is the only pitcher with more than five wins this season. The Cavaliers do have two stellar relievers in Tyler Hayes and Nate Thompson. In 14.1 innings, Hayes has an ERA of 2.51 and has four saves. Meanwhile, Thompson has closed five games out and has 25 strikeouts in 22.1 innings.
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