Concord Starts 2022 Campaign with Home Series Against Pitt-Johnstown

Concord Stats - Pitt-Johnstown Stats - Live Stats - Live Video

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team begins the 2022 season by hosting Pitt-Johnstown for a three-game series starting 12:00 p.m. Sunday with a doubleheader before closing the set 12:00 p.m. Monday.

LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of the games.
Video: Live streaming video will be available throughout the series.

RECORDS
Concord finished 2021 with a record of 18-23, but did advance to the Mountain East Conference Championship Series.

UPJ was 16-20 a season ago, but was 16-13 before a seven-game losing streak to end the spring.

THE BATS ARE BACK
The Mountain Lions return a myriad of hitters from last year's team, including eight players that started at least 24 games. CU had three all-region position players from the 2021 campaign in fifth-year senior infielder Evan Antonellis, sophomore infielder Zack Saryeldin and fifth-year senior infielder Anthony Stehlin. Saryeldin and Stehlin were just one of three pairs of teammates in all of Division II to top the .400 mark a season ago as Saryeldin batted .418 and Stehlin followed with a mark of .408. From his third-base position, Antonellis just missed the .400 club, hitting .393. He added 13 extra-base hits. Junior outfielder Richard Ortiz was one of the best run-producers in the MEC as he notched 32 RBI to go with a team-best 10 doubles and an average of .336.

FINISHING STRONG
The three-most experienced pitchers to the Concord staff are sophomores Eddie Blake and Andrew Neff and fifth-year senior Dan Nicholls. Blake wasn't added to the starting rotation until mid-April last year, but in his six starts he allowed one earned run in three of them. His final regular-season outing produced a crucial road win at Glenville State as he tossed six innings and allowed one earned run. He was the pitcher of record in CU's MEC Tournament win over Alderson-Broaddus as he tied his career high with six strikeouts over 6.1 innings. In his final four starts of the season, Neff registered 26 strikeouts across 24.2 innings. The final appearance of the year for the Fredericksburg, Virginia native was against nationally-ranked Charleston in the MEC Tournament when he punched out nine in 7.2 innings, allowing a single run.

CELEBRATION AT THE END
Sunday will be the first meeting between Concord and Pitt-Johnstown since  March 12, 2020—the day that sports came to a screeching halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Mountain Lions rallied two different times in the game before getting an 11^th-inning walk-off single from junior outfielder Josh Adkins. Down 4-1 in the eighth, Adkins and fifth-year senior outfielder Brandon Bayne scored two of the three runs in the rally with Stehlin bringing in the tying run on a sacrifice fly. After the Mountain Cats scored two runs in the top of the 11^th, Stehlin began the rally in the bottom half with a walk. Adkins plated former standout Adam Linkous on a bases-loaded single down the right field line for a 7-6 win. The win over UPJ from 2020 allowed Concord to take a 22-13 edge in the all-time series. The final home game of the 2021 season ended in similar fashion as CU walked off against Glenville State, 10-9, to qualify for the MEC Tournament. Stehlin's eighth-inning base hit brought in Adkins and now-graduated outfielder Jon Osteen.

PITT-JOHNSTOWN AT A GLANCE
The Mountain Cats are in the incredibly-difficult PSAC West that produced Atlantic Region winner Seton Hill last season as the Griffins advanced to the College World Series. The top returning offensive player for veteran head coach Todd Williams, starting his 25^th season, is Dylan Broderick who hit .338 with a pair of home runs and 12 RBI in 2021. Tyler Smith sported just a .292 average last season, but drove in 32 runs. In 20.1 innings, Austin Hammerle recorded 22 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.66. Sunday is the start of a 14-game road trip for Pitt-Johnstown to begin the year.