Concord Wraps Up MEC North Competition Against Wheeling, West Liberty

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

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University baseball team ramps up a nine-game homestand when it welcomes Wheeling and West Liberty to Anderson Field for a pair of Mountain East Conference doubleheaders 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 video of all four games.

Live Stats
Live Video

SERIES HISTORY vs. Wheeling: Concord leads 24-10
SERIES HISTORY vs. West Liberty: Concord leads 37-21

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WHEELING
March 29, 2024: Wheeling 4 – Concord 3, Wheeling 6 – Concord 5 (Wheeling, W.Va.)
May 11, 2023: Concord 4 – Wheeling 3 (Charleston, W.Va.)
April 1, 2023: Concord 6 – Wheeling 2, Concord 5 – Wheeling 4 (Athens, W.Va.)
March 20, 2022: Concord 7 – Wheeling 5, Wheeling 16 – Concord 1 (Wheeling, W.Va.)
May 13, 2021: Concord 15 – Wheeling 1 (Beckley, W.Va.)

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WEST LIBERTY
March 30, 2024: Concord 12 – West Liberty 5, Concord 10 – West Liberty 2 (Athens, W.V.Va.)
April 2, 2023: Concord 13 – West Liberty 10, Concord 11 – West Liberty 1 (Athens, W.Va.)
March 21, 2022: Concord 8 -West Liberty 0, Concord 4 – West Liberty 2 (West Liberty, W.Va.)
March 23, 2021: West Liberty 6 – Concord 2, West Liberty 5 – Concord 0 (Athens, W.Va.)
March 17, 2019: Concord 6 – West Liberty 4, West Liberty 3 – Concord 1 (Washington, Pa.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 12-11
MEC Record: 4-2
Home Record: 7-5
Away Record: 5-4
Neutral Record: 0-2

STAY HOT
For the seventh time in the last nine games, and the 14^th time this season, CU collected double-digit hits in its setback to nationally-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne Tuesday night. Concord outhit the eighth-ranked Bears, 10-8, in the game. The hits were evenly distributed for the Mountain Lions as ten different players had a hit in the game. Senior infielders Tyson Burke and AJ Strickland both notched their first doubles of the season while senior utility MJ Hunter and graduate infielder Ty Livingston also had doubles in the contest. The Mountain Lions are 9-5 this season when collected at least 10 hits. Wednesday night marked the ninth time this year that the Maroon and Gray has collected three or more doubles. Last year's team had 12 games of three or more doubles.

POUNDING THE STRIKE ZONE
Concord faces one of the best pitching staffs in the MEC in Wheeling. The Cardinals present the MEC's third-best ERA (6.01). And Wheeling has the fifth-most strikeouts in the conference (141). The Mountain Lions' pitching staff also carries momentum into the weekend. Despite having a 7.16 overall ERA, CU's conference ERA is below six (5.93). Sophomore pitcher Jake Robinson has tossed 14.1 consecutive scoreless innings heading into the weekend, and the Raleigh, North Carolina native has back-to-back games of seven strikeouts. Graduate pitcher Coby Ingle is coming off his best start in the Maroon and Gray as he set career highs in innings pitched (six) and strikeouts (six) at Point Park last Saturday.  Each of Ingle's last four appearances have gone at least three innings while he has given up three or fewer runs each time out.

TOP OFFENSES
Concord and West Liberty rank near the top of the MEC in several offensive categories. The Mountain Lions lead the conference in average (.316). CU is third in slugging percentage (.468), fourth in stolen bases (42), fourth in doubles (47) and second in triples (eight). Individually, junior infielder Matthew DiSanti is fourth in the MEC in average (.418) and junior catcher Austin Hear is sixth (.412). DiSanti is second in the conference in total hits (33). West Liberty is fifth in the MEC in average (.295), but has the second-most hits behind Concord (231-225). The Hilltoppers lead the conference in doubles (58) and are tied for first in triples (10).  Will Balgo is tied for first in the MEC in hits (34). West Virginia State transfer Williams Glick is third in the league in RBI (29). CU piled up 22 runs in a doubleheader sweep of WLU last season at home.

WHEELING AT A GLANCE
Overall Record:  8-12
MEC Record: 2-6
Home Record: 5-4
Away Record: 2-6
Neutral Record: 1-2

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
Wheeling had lost five of its previous six games before picking up a 12-5 win over Bluefield State Thursday afternoon at home. Wes Landis and Jaden Wilcox spearhead the pitching staff for seventh-year head coach Ryan Lewicki. The duo is only a combined 2-4 on the mound, but Landis has a 3.62 ERA in 27 innings while collecting 27 strikeouts. Wilcox is tied forth third in the MEC in strikeouts with 30 in 26 innings. He has a 4.05 ERA. Brett Johnson bats a team-best .333. Nicholas Schulz is hitting .317 this year with 11 RBI.

WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 14-11
MEC Record: 6-2
Home Record: 3-1
Away Record: 8-8
Neutral Record: 3-2

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
Along with Balgo and Glick, veteran middle infielder, Ryan Talbert factors into the offensive mix. He is hitting .337 with nine extra-base hits and 20 RBI. Connor Huzicka and Adam Och both have 11 doubles on the season which is top three in the MEC. Freshman Kristopher Skeen is 3-1 on the mound with an ERA of 3.90 in 27.2 innings. WLU begins the weekend second in the MEC North, one game back of Point Park for first.