Concord Plays for MEC Championship Sunday

Concord Stats - West Virginia State Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Tournament Central

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team plays for the Mountain East Conference Championship 1:00 p.m. Sunday at Epling Stadium in Beckley, West Virginia.

LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The Mountain East Conference will provide live in-game statistics Sunday
Video: Live streaming video is also available courtesy of the MEC.

RECORDS
The Mountain Lions enter Sunday with a record of 18-21.

West Virginia State is 30-8 this season.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Concord is 3-0 in the MEC Tournament with wins over Wheeling, Charleston and Alderson Broaddus.

West Virginia State will need to defeat CU twice on Sunday to walk away with the championship. The Yellow Jackets shook off an opening game loss to Alderson Broaddus, and has responded with wins over Wheeling and West Liberty.

PLAYING FOR A TITLE
The Mountain Lions will be playing in their first conference tournament championship game in eight year when they take the field Sunday afternoon. In fact before Thursday's 15-1 victory over Wheeling, Concord had lost eight straight MEC Tournament games. CU has previously won conference tournament championships in 1954, 1961, 2001, 2011 and 2013—all WVIAC titles. Head coach Kevin Garrett piloted the 2001 championship team. This year's Concord team is seeking to become the first MEC team to win a title with fewer than 20 wins. West Virginia State won a championship in 2014 with 34 wins, and Charleston did the same in 2018 with 34 victories—the current low in wins for championship squads.

STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
In three victories at the MEC Tournament, Concord has received outstanding pitching performances from senior Trent Abernathy and freshman Andrew Neff while freshman utility Eddie Blake turned in a stellar outing against Alderson Broaddus. Abernathy tossed a complete game against Wheeling with nine strikeouts in the 15-1 win. Abernathy passed Trey Smith for third on CU's all-time strikeout list, and now has 218 for his career. Neff threw 146 pitches in his start against Charleston as he limited the very potent UC offense to seven hits and one run in 7.2 innings. The 90 strikes that Neff threw were the most for a Concord pitcher since 2014 when Ryan Weatherholtz threw 91 strikes out of 125 pitches in a start against Pitt-Johnstown. For Blake, he tied his career high with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings against Alderson Broaddus. Neff also matched his career best with nine strikeouts.

BEING OPPORTUNISTIC
Junior catcher Chance Davis got his first start of the MEC Tournament on Saturday as he caught all six of Blake's starts this season. The Max Meadows, Virginia native came through with two hits and two RBI from the eighth spot in the order. It was the third game this season for Davis with multiple hits and RBI in the same contest, but the first one against a team other than West Virginia Wesleyan. Junior infielder Evan Antonellis had just one hit against Alderson Broaddus, but it was a bases-loaded triple to tie the game in the fifth. For Antonellis, it was just his second triple of the season, and first since March 23 against West Liberty. The Dumfries, Virginia native is second on the team RBI this postseason with five, trailing only freshman catcher Nick Funk's seven as Funk had six RBI in the tournament opener against Wheeling.

GOING AGAINST THE GOLD
Two MEC South Division rivals in Concord and West Virginia State meet for the MEC Championship Sunday afternoon. Earlier this season, the Mountain Lions narrowly avoided a sweep at the hands of WVSU by taking the fourth game of the series April 12. However, all three Yellow Jacket wins were by one run, 3-2 twice and 8-7 in the third game. Abernathy struck out seven in 7.2 innings in a walk-off win for WVSU in game one. West Virginia State was able to get another late run in the second 3-2 victory against Neff. Sophomore outfielder Richard Ortiz has a pair of two-hit games against WVSU this season while Antonellis closed the series with a three-hit game. Junior infielder Anthony Stehlin had just four hits in the series, but drew four walks in the first two games. In his first career start, Blake limited West Virginia State to three hits and a run over five innings.

WEST VIRGINIA STATE AT A GLANCE
The Yellow Jackets will be playing for their first MEC Championship since 2016. WVSU played in the first three MEC titles, winning in 2014 and 2015 and falling to Shepherd the next year. West Virginia State is just one of two team in the MEC to reach the 30-win mark this season, joining Charleston's 31 wins. In his start against Concord earlier this season, Ethan Lauchart struck out 12 over eight innings. CU pitching limited West Virginia State to six or fewer hits in three of the four games during the regular season. In the MEC Tournament, Matt Kline and Andrew Massey have combined for seven RBI.