Published: May 13, 2008 11:51 pm            

Concord-UPJ face off again

ATHENS — Less than two weeks after Groundhog Day, springlike weather allowed Concord University to begin its baseball season at Anderson Field hosting the University of Pittsburgh–Johnstown, one of the newest members of the West Virginia Conference.

The teams split doubleheaders both days, then went their different ways to post eerily similar seasons.

Both now have 35 wins, both went 0-2 in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) tournament — and both have fought their way to the next level, the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Region Tournament.

On Thursday evening in the Johnstown, Pa., they meet again to conclude first-day action in the tournament. Think of it as sort of a long-delayed “Groundhog Day” rerun.

“It’s been a long time since February,” said Concord head coach Kevin Garrett, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t kept up with the UPJ Mountain Cats. “We saw them twice (in the WVIAC tournament). We’re very familiar with them.

“They’re a very good team — a solid team, very well coached. They hit the ball; they put it in play. They’ve got a very good pitching staff. They’ve got a couple of guys (who) pro scouts have been looking at.”

The Mountain Cats’ team batting average is .321 and the fielding percentage is .964. The pitchers’ earned-run average is 4.86, “which is good at this point in the season,” Garrett said. “They’re a pretty solid team, but that’s the reason they’ve got 35 wins, very similar to us.”

Seniors Adam Plummer (.401 batting average) and Dan DelSignore (.354) anchor the UPJ lineup. Both made the all-conference first team.

Relief pitcher Eric Faint, at 6-foot-4, has eight saves and a 2.50 ERA in 36 innings pitched. Freshman Jon Moore has a 6-1 pitching record and an ERA of 3.66.

Concord is batting .352 as a unit, with a conference-best fielding mark of .966 and a collective ERA of 5.77.

Matt Kuntz has the best batting average in the WVIAC, .476, and a perfect 16-for-16 in stolen bases. Grayson Schram is tops in runs scored (63) and second in home runs (16). The Mountain Lions have also gotten plenty of punch from the bats of Donovan Huffer (.446) and Tim Merolillo (.395).

After years of playing the West Virginia Conference tournament in Princeton, about seven miles from Concord’s campus, the league championship has moved to UPJ’s backyard.

“They hosted the tournament, so that’s going to be a little added pressure on them. Every time you host a tournament, people expect you to win it,” Garrett said, “because you do have an advantage. You’re sleeping in your own bed. ... It’s a routine thing.”

Tournament games go nine innings, while a majority of regular-season games in the WVIAC are played in seven. Garrett said he’s taken plenty of steps to prepare the Concordians for longer outings.

“We try to play as many nine-inning games in our schedule as we possibly can,” he said. “I think this will help us, going into the regional tournament, going back and looking at our nine-inning games.”

The last one, on March 26, was a 15-14 win at Belmont-Abbey College in North Carolina. “We end up coming back and winning that game in the top of the ninth,” Garrett said.

“In tournament play, emotions run so high,” he noted. “Teams don’t realize we still have the seventh, eighth and ninth to play.

“Sometimes kids have a tendency to say, ‘All right, we’ve just scored three runs in the sixth inning. This game’s over.’ But (we have to) get them to think that we’ve got some baseball to play yet.”

Concord’s pitchers were the key to help the team break the school’s previous win record. Garrett said, “I told our pitching staff that the difference between having a 25-win year and a 35-win year is pitching.”

The relief corps has taken on more importance in today’s college game.

“We don’t even expect our starters in seven-inning games to go the full seven,” Garrett said. “At this point in the season, everybody’s arms are tired, everybody’s legs are tired.

“It’s a real plus, having those two or three guys who can pop out of the bullpen, control the situation, and keep the game in hand — or keep the game close if we’re behind … and allow us time to catch up in a nine-inning game.”

“When you’re pitching well, it takes pressure off your offense,” he said.

It doesn’t get easier for pitchers as the season goes on. The hitters get “locked in,” Garrett said. “They’ve seen great pitchers all year. And now maybe some of those (pitchers) who were throwing low 90s … are throwing mid-80s. …

“You may be able to strike him out in February, but when you see him again in May, I don’t know if you can get it by him now. You’re just going to have to get him out.”

The pitching of West Virginia State is a case in point, Garrett said. The Yellow Jackets blew past Alderson-Broaddus on May 4 to win their 16th WVIAC baseball championship.

Garrett observed, “Everybody said, ‘They broke their big bats out for the tournament.’ Well, look at how many runs they gave up. That’s the thing I look at. Instead of winning in the championship game 14-2, they could’ve won 3-2.”

State’s top pitcher Todd McQuistion “can be dominant,” Garrett said.

West Virginia State (36-12) got the second seed in this week’s regional and has won 20 of its last 22 contests. The top spot went to the Golden Rams of West Chester, Pa. (41-14), who will play No. 6 seed Kutztown, Pa., the defending regional champs.

Garrett said of West Chester, “They pitch it extremely well. They have a team ERA in the 3’s. That’s their strong point.”

Asked how schools like West Chester stay regional contenders almost every year, Garrett said, “Money. Having scholarship dollars to go out and replace those players that they lose, year-in and year-out. ... If you don’t have that money, it makes it harder and harder.”

He said, “Our front-line guys are just as good as anybody else’s.” The difference comes down to depth, he said. “We don’t have six outfielders; we have four, and we have an infielder that we’ve converted into an outfielder,” he said.

The players on the field will determine the regional champion and with it an automatic berth into the Division II World Series on May 24-31 in St. Louis.

There’s a lot riding on each at-bat in each inning. Garrett has tried to combat the tension that arises in younger college players at tournament time.

“And that’s the hardest thing, as a coach, when you’re trying to get your players to relax and play in that comfort zone,” Garrett said. “That’s tough, especially when they feel like they’ve got to do something extra to win this tournament — when they don’t.”

—Will Prewitt of the WVIAC contributed to this story.

        

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