BACK TO .500 ... AND THEN SOME

CU DOWNS D&E FOR SECOND STRAIGHT TOURNAMENT WIN

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Concord's Baseball squad might just be, right now, the most dangerous .500 team in the country.

The Mountain Lions improved their record to 24-24 after defeating Davis & Elkins Friday morning in the second day of pool play at the WVIAC Tournament.

More importantly, the 11-9 victory put CU in control of its own post-season fate.

Coupled with yesterday's 11-9 win over defending champion Seton Hill, the Mountain Lions are in first place in Pool #1.

A win over Wheeling Jesuit on the final day of pool play Saturday puts Concord in the conference championship game Sunday afternoon at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley, WV.

Not too bad for a team that started the season 8-11 and had to wait until the final day of the regular to see if it would qualify for the playoffs in the first place.

Like Thursday's tournament opener against Seton Hill, Concord spotted a higher-seeded team a 3-0 lead after two innings. Also like Thursday, CU erupted for four runs in the top of the 3rd.

The Mountain Lions loaded the bases with nobody out against D&E starting pitcher Jared Winder, and Bret Blevins drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Kyle Webb drew a walk to re-load the bases.
That brought up Raphael Sanchez (right), who drilled a double into the left field corner that cleared the bases and put Concord ahead 4-3.

CU took a 5-3 lead in the 4th. Keith Morrisroe drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Winder tried to pick him off, but threw the ball into centerfield, with the error moving Morrisroe to third. Winder hit Jacob Mays with a pitch, then struck out Josh Wenger, but Nick Sydnor lined an RBI single to right.

The Senators scored an unearned run in the bottom on the inning to pull within 5-4. But the Mountain Lions had an answer in the top of the 6th.

The rally again started with Morrisroe drawing a leadoff walk and stealing second. Mays' deep fly out to dead center moved Morrisroe to third, and he scored on Wenger's sacrifice fly.
Nick Sydnor capped the rally with a solo home run to right center. His 4th homer of the season put CU up 7-4.

CU tallied twice more in the 7th. Webb led off with a bunt single, and went to third when relief pitcher John Commins' throw wound up in the right field corner. Sanchez flared a single to make the score 8-4. Ian Humphrey sacrificed Sanchez to second, and Randy Beard (left) singled to right to score the freshman second baseman and give the Mountain Lions a five-run lead.

They would need the cushion.

Concord pitcher Will Zuspan, who worked an inning in earning his first collegiate save Thursday, win over Seton Hill, was pressed into service in long relief on Friday when starter Brandon Proctor faltered in the 3rd inning. The freshman ran out of gas in the bottom of the 7th against D&E.
Brenton Kopecek and Evan Gazza singled, and Marcus Weese drove in Kopecek with a double. That chased Zuspan, who gave way to Mays.
Eric Doyle greeted Mays with a solid single up the middle, bringing in two runs and drawing the Senators within 9-7. But Mays would get out of the jam with no more damage.

Wenger led off the Concord 8th with a double into the left field corner. Commins retired the next two batters, but Webb launched a triple off the wall in right to stretch the CU lead to 10-7.

That RBI proved important. Davis & Elkins put together three straight hits with one out in the bottom of the 8th, with Gazza's two-run triple cutting the Concord advantage to 10-9.
With the tying run on third, Concord head coach Andrew Wright visited Mays to settle him down.

The mound meeting worked.

Mays (right) got Marcus Weese to ground out to shortstop – with Gazza holding at third – then induced Eric Doyle to pop out the end the threat and keep CU in the lead.

The Mountain Lions pushed across an important insurance run with two outs in the top of the 9th. Morrisroe singled, and came in to score on Mays' double to right.

Mays retired the side in order in the bottom of the 9th for his second save of the season – both against D&E.

Like Thursday, Concord banged out 16 hits and got production throughout the lineup. Webb led the way with three hits, with six other players getting two hits each. Among them was Sanchez, whose four RBIs topped the team.
Morrisroe scored three runs. Wenger, Sydnor and Webb each scored twice.

Zuspan got the win with 4 1/3 innings of relief.

BOXSCORE/PLAY-BY-PLAY

Today's victory completed a season sweep of Davis & Elkins. Concord defeated the Senators, 8-7 and 12-9, in a doubleheader at Anderson Field on April 23.

Up next for Concord is tomorrow's WVIAC Tournament pool play game against Wheeling Jesuit, starting at 9:30 am at Epling Stadium.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 102.3 The Ticket (WMTD, Hinton/Princeton/Beckley) starting at 9:15. The Ticket will provide free, streaming audio at www.theticket102.com.

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