Concord Takes On Wheeling, West Liberty to Conclude MEC North Slate

Concord Stats - Wheeling Stats - West Liberty Stats - Live Stats - Live Video

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team wraps up Mountain East Conference North Division play when it travels to Wheeling 1:00 p.m. Friday and hosts West Liberty 1:00 p.m. Saturday in a pair of doubleheaders.

LIVE COVERAGE
Both the Concord and Wheeling Sports Information Departments will have live statistics and live video for the four games.

Live Stats
Live Video

SERIES HISTORY vs. Wheeling: Concord leads 24-8
SERIES HISTORY vs. West Liberty: Concord leads 35-21

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WHEELING
May 11, 2023: Concord 4 – Wheeling 3 (Charleston, W.Va.)
April 1, 2023: Concord 2 – Wheeling 0 (W, 5-4 W, 6-2) (Athens, W.Va.)
March 20, 2022: Concord 1 – Wheeling 1 (L, 16-1 W, 7-5 (8)) (Wheeling, W.Va.)
May 13, 2021: Concord 15 – Wheeling 1 (Beckley, W.Va.)
March 22, 2021: Wheeling 2 – Concord 0 (L, 8-5 (8) L, 13-6) (Athens, W.Va.)

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WEST LIBERTY
April 2, 2023: Concord 2 – West Liberty 0 (W, 11-1 W, 13-0) (Athens, W.Va.)
March 21, 2022: Concord 2 – West Liberty 0 (W, 4-2 W, 8-0) (West Liberty, W.Va.)
March 23, 2021: West Liberty 2 – Concord 0 (L, 5-0 L, 6-2) (Athens, W.Va.)
March 17, 2019: Concord 1 – West Liberty 1 (L, 3-1 W, 6-4) (Washington, Pa.)
May 10, 2018: West Liberty 9 – Concord 0 (Beckley, W.Va.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 10-10
MEC Record: 2-4
Home Record: 6-6
Away Record: 2-3
Neutral Record: 2-1

RECORD WATCH
By picking up a win over Notre Dame last weekend, graduate pitcher Andrew Neff tied the program record for career wins with his 27^th victory. He matched Chris Kelly (2013-16) and Ryan Weatherholtz (2011-14) in the career win column at CU. Neff already has the program record with 259 career strikeouts, seventh most among active Division II pitchers. Fifth-year senior infielder Zack Saryeldin starts the weekend at 217 career hits, five away from moving into the top 10 in program history. Saryeldin tallied six hits, including a three-hit game versus West Liberty, against Wheeling and WLU last season. And with his next home run, senior infielder Chris Satcher will move into the top 10 on Concord's home run list. After connecting on a three-run homer against Salem, Satcher has 19 career home runs.

FIVE FOR FIVE
The Mountain Lions went 5-0 against Wheeling and West Liberty last season as they swept doubleheaders versus both teams in the regular season and defeated Wheeling in the MEC Tournament. Junior utility MJ Hunter had RBI in four of the five games last season versus the Cardinals and Hilltoppers. Junior infielder Brendan Brady played a critical role in Concord's 13-10 win over WLU as he drove in two runs and was the winning pitcher on the mound. In the 5-4 win over Wheeling, Satcher's three-run home run in the fifth inning was the difference. The last four games between Concord and Wheeling have been decided by a combined nine runs with all four games being won by the Mountain Lions.  

OFFENSIVE SHOWCASE
Concord goes up against the top two offenses in the MEC in the terms of average. West Liberty leads the MEC with a .311 average with Wheeling checking in at .292. CU boasts the MEC's third-best batting lineup with a team average of .284. James Salvatori (.398), Jacob Sherman (.387) and Noah Mildren (.352) are all hitting .350 or better this year for the Hilltoppers. Salvatori has already hit 10 home runs. Scott Kondroik paces the Wheeling offense with a .370 average. Braden Killens is hitting .341 with 28 RBI. Junior pitcher Rylee Nicholas has only allowed one earned run in 14 combined innings versus Wheeling and West Liberty in his career, including throwing five shutout innings two years ago at WLU. Senior pitcher Eddie Blake struck out 10 against West Liberty last season. And Neff fanned six batters in six innings versus Wheeling in the regular season.

WHEELING AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 13-9
MEC Record: 3-5
Home Record: 0-5
Away Record: 9-4
Neutral Record: 4-0

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
Wheeling enters the weekend having won three straight games, including a 10-5 win at Davis & Elkins Monday after trailing 5-3 with two outs in the seventh inning. Kenny Jinks and Kody McCarley are a combined 7-2 on the mound this season with ERAs below 4.5. Wheeling's offense averages 7.5 runs per game, and as a team Wheeling has stolen 40 bases, led by Christian Boyles with 10. All 13 wins for Wheeling have come away from home.

WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 7-15
MEC Record: 4-4
Home Record: 1-3
Away Record: 5-3
Neutral Record: 1-9

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
While the offense has done the heavy lifting for West Liberty, the WLU pitching staff sports an ERA of 7.37. Tanner Pelaez is the only West Liberty pitcher to have thrown 25 or more innings as he has an ERA of 3.92. Salvatori has done a bulk of the damage for Hilltoppers' offense, but a total of nine players have 10 or more RBI, and as a team West Liberty slugs .501 for the season.