Concord Readies for MEC Tournament Rematch Against Frostburg State Saturday

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team faces Frostburg State in the Mountain East Conference for a second consecutive day 1:00 p.m. Saturday at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, West Virginia.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Mountain East Conference will provide live in-game statistics and live streaming video of Saturday's contest.

Live Stats
Live Video

TOURNAMENT UPDATE
With a win Saturday, CU would seal a berth into the MEC Championship Game 4:00 p.m. Sunday. Meanwhile, a loss would keep three teams alive, Concord, Frostburg State and the winner of the Charleston-Wheeling contest. CU would then play either Charleston or Wheeling 4:00 p.m. with a winner-take-all championship game set for 7:00 p.m. Sunday with Frostburg State waiting.

SERIES HISTORY: Concord leads 5-3

ALL-TIME MEETINGS
May 11, 2023: Concord 5 – Frostburg State 2 (Charleston, W.Va.)
March 18, 2023: Concord 2 – Frostburg State 0 (W, 9-5 W, 9-7) (Athens, W.Va.)
May 13, 2022: Concord 10 – Frostburg State 4 (Beckley, W.Va.)
April 2, 2022: Concord 1 – Frostburg State 1 (W, 7-5 L, 7-2) (Frostburg, Md.)
April 4, 2021: Frostburg State 2 – Concord 0 (L, 12-2 L, 8-6) (Athens, W.Va.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 29-19
Home Record: 17-13
Away Record: 10-6
Neutral Record: 2-0

STRONG STAFF
Through two games of the MEC Tournament, the Maroon and Gray has relied on its pitching staff to lead the way. The quartet of junior pitcher Eddie Blake, junior pitcher Andrew Neff, sophomore pitcher/infielder Rylee Nicholas and senior pitcher Nick Sanso have pitched in both games. In Friday's win over Frostburg State, the quartet combined to strike out 10 batters with Neff logging six. Neff's 93 strikeouts are tied for fifth most in a single season in the MEC. Neff also tied the single-season MEC record for wins with his 12^th on Friday. As for the season in the MEC, Blake tied Glenville State's Chase Swain for fifth in the conference in strikeouts (68) while Nicholas moved up into a tie for eighth with Wheeling's Kenny Jinks (62). Sophomore utility MJ Hunter tossed a scoreless inning in Thursday's victory over Wheeling. Since allowing 18 runs in the final game of the Charleston series, Concord pitching has allowed 10 total runs over the last four games.

STEP UP IN THE CLUTCH
Graduate outfielder Kyle Keenan has been at the forefront of the Concord offense so far in the postseason as he has four hits, including his sixth home run in Friday's victory, and four RBI. Keenan was crucial with a game-tying, two-RBI single in Thursday's victory. Keenan has 11 RBI in his last eight games. Thursday and Friday was just the second instance this year where Keenan has logged multi-RBI games in back-to-back contests. Fellow graduate outfielder Josh Adkins also provided a jolt of offense for CU Friday with his team-best ninth home run of the season. The Nitro, West Virginia native now has 21 extra-base hits for the season. Entering this season, Adkins only had 23 extra-base hits for his career, spanning more than 100 games.

RECENT MEMORIES
Saturday will be the third time Concord plays Frostburg State in the last two MEC Tournament, and the seventh time total since the start of the 2022 season. Concord has won five of the last six games after FSU swept the Mountain Lions at home in 2021. This season, Adkins is 5-for-10 in three games versus Frostburg State and has two home runs. Sophomore infielder Brendan Brady has six hits in 10 at-bats this year against the Bobcats. Along with Adkins, Keenan and junior infielder Chris Satcher have homered versus FSU this spring. Neff has 12 strikeouts in 10.2 innings against Frostburg State this season and has allowed just two earned runs.

FROSTBURG STATE AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 32-19
MEC Record: 22-8
Home Record: 9-6
Away Record 17-9
Neutral Record: 6-4

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Since leaving Athens at 7-7 in mid-March, the two-time defending MEC North Champions have gone 25-12. Concord has limited one of the best hitters in the MEC, Ethan Kiple, to 3-for-12 this season, but he has homered off CU pitching. Frostburg State has used both of its All-MEC starting pitchers in the MEC Tournament as Jacob Stretch threw six shutout innings Wednesday versus West Virginia State needing 113 pitches. Concord defeated Max Proctor Friday. FSU's 72 home runs are the second most in the MEC. Kiple (21), Danny Estrada (11), Mikey Guy (eight) and Trevor Jones (eight) are all in the top 15 in the conference in home runs. Jones homered off Blake Friday.