ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team gets set to host nationally-ranked, 25
th-rated Charleston in a four-game Mountain East Conference South Division series at Anderson Field 1:00 p.m. Saturday and 1:00 p.m. Sunday.
LIVE COVERAGE
The Concord University Sports Information Department will have live statistics and live streaming video of the four-game set.
Live Stats
Live Video
SERIES HISTORY: Concord leads 48-33
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
May 14, 2022: Charleston 15 – Concord 1 (Beckley, W.Va.)
April 30/May 2, 2022: Charleston 3 – Concord 1 (W, 24-10 L, 11-0 L, 8-1 L, 7-0) (Charleston, W.Va.)
May 14, 2021: Concord 7 – #16 Charleston 2 (Beckley, W.Va.)
May 1-2, 2021: Concord 2 – #14 Charleston 2 (L, 4-1 L, 8-3 W, 10-9 W, 10-7) (Athens, W.Va.)
April 27-28, 2019: Concord 2 – Charleston 2 (L, 5-2 W, 3-2 (8) L, 9-2 W, 2-0) (Charleston, W.Va.)
CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 24-16
MEC Record: 20-4
Home Record: 16-10
Away Record: 8-6
LATE DRAMA
All four of Concord's games at West Virginia State weren't decided until the final inning or in some cases the final at-bat. The Mountain Lions took the first two games of the series, 3-2 and 6-2, before WVSU had a pair of walk-off wins Sunday afternoon, 3-2 and 6-5, with the latter going to eight innings. The bottom third of the CU order, junior infielder
Daniel Layne, senior catcher
Hunter Steel and sophomore utility
MJ Hunter came up with some critical hits at West Virginia State to propel Concord to the first two wins, including Hunter's go-ahead double in game two last Friday. Layne leads the Mountain Lions in average with runners in scoring position (.429/18-for-42) while Steel is hitting a stellar .342 (13-for-38) with RISP. Junior outfielder
D.J. Christian Jr. (.385) and junior infielder
Zack Saryeldin (.383) are near the .400 mark in RISP. CU as a team hits .327 with RISP.
MAGIC NUMBER
CU needs either one win in its final eight games or one Glenville State loss over the final two weekends of the season to clinch a berth in the MEC Tournament. Since conference play started, the Mountain Lions are 11-1 in the first two games of the weekend with the only loss coming against Notre Dame. Junior pitcher
Andrew Neff has allowed three runs or fewer in five of his six appearances in the MEC that have gone at least six innings. Neff has 78 strikeouts on the season which is one away from tying his total from 2022. Meanwhile, sophomore pitcher/infielder
Rylee Nicholas is holding teams to a .194 batting average in MEC play, one of four pitchers in the league keeping batters below .200 in conference play. Since giving up five runs to Frostburg State on March 18, Nicholas has allowed five earned runs in his last 23 innings.
TUSSLE AT THE TOP
Concord and Charleston are the only teams in the MEC with 20 or more conference wins as CU is one game back of the Golden Eagles for first place in the MEC South. WVSU picked up its 20
th win Thursday against Davis & Elkins too. Both teams come in nearly identical in batting average with UC leading the way in the league at .313 while Concord checks in second at .312. Christian Jr. (first/.395), UC's Kyle West (second/.393) and Tyler Dellerman (fourth/.382) and graduate outfielder
Josh Adkins (seventh/.377) are top 10 in the league in average. This will mark the second time in three years that Concord takes on UC when the Golden Eagles are ranked in the top 25. Two years ago, the teams split a four-game regular-season series before Concord picked off Charleston in the MEC Tournament. Charleston took four of the five meetings last season. Saryeldin was 8-for-14 in four regular season games versus UC in 2021 with three home runs and six RBI. Adkins batted .400 (6-for-15) last season against Charleston.
CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 33-7
MEC Record: 21-3
Home Record: 26-3
Away Record: 7-4
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
This week is the first time that Charleston has been ranked this season as it enters the weekend having won 10 straight games. West (15 home runs, 41 RBI) and Dellerman (14 home runs, 51 RBI) have combined for 29 home runs and 92 RBI. Giano Zuccaro has put together a stellar season with five home runs and 34 RBI to go with a .351 average. Six different UC pitchers have won at least three games on the mound. Ethan Soderna is 5-1 with 56 strikeouts in 52.2 innings and a 3.93 ERA. Charleston sports a 4.27 team ERA.
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