FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seed Upsets Mark First Day of SCBL Divisional Playoffs

Huntersville, NC (July 20, 2010) With one day of postseason play in the books, only one of the original No. 1 and No. 2 seeds remains going into the divisional championships tonight.

Only one team, the East Division’s No. 1 Lake Norman Copperheads, plays at home for the second night in a row as they take on the No. 3 Morganton Aggies for the Division Championship.  In the West Division, the No. 3 Asheville Redbirds host the No. 4 Carolina Chaos for a chance at the League Championship this weekend.

Making up for rained-out opportunities, Lake Norman took down the Carolina Stingers last night here, 6-2, the only game won by a higher seed in Round 1.  An early run crossed the plate thanks to a Stingers error, which became a common theme later as the Copperheads added a four-run fifth inning that began with another run-scoring error.  From there, a Mark Heil (Clayton, MO) double led to a bases-loaded two-run single for D.J. Jarrad (Portage, MI) and an RBI single by Tyler Zupcic (Charlotte, NC) to make it 5-0.  Zupcic picked up his second RBI in the eighth to end the scoring for Lake Norman.  Solid pitching held off a Stingers comeback as Will Helms (Charlotte, NC) capped off an undefeated summer with 6 1-3 innings, allowing a run on four hits.

Morganton finished with the best overall record in the league, playing and winning out of the No. 3 seed against No. 2 Statesville, 6-4 in Statesville, N.C.  After scoring three runs on just three hits to make it 3-0 after five, the Owls’ defense imploded in the sixth as alternating walks and errors loaded the bases and brought two runs home.  Then, a Joe Mangum (Waxhaw, NC) RBI single tied the game, and a Jordan Sells (Richfield, NC) double-play ground ball brought home the go-ahead run for a lead the Aggies protected to the end.  Both Joey Frabasile (Hartsdale, NY) and Kyle Brandenburg (Greensboro, NC) ended their Owls year with two-hit performances.

Tonight the Copperheads host the Aggies in a rematch of last year’s playoffs, when Lake Norman eliminated Morganton in a walk-off victory in the semifinal game.  Lake Norman throws the first pitch at 7 PM at Hopewell High School.

A triple, a double, two singles and a three-run home run came off No. 3 Asheville’s bats to greet No. 2 Tennessee’s starter Eddie Smith II (West Blocton, AL) to set the tone for the Redbirds’ 8-5 win in Johnson City, Tenn.  Smith shouldered the loss, coming out of the game without retiring a

batter in the first.  Brett Mercurio (Loxahatchee, FL) hit the home run and also reached on an error later, scoring the first of three runs in the seventh thanks to three Tornado errors.  Despite a 3-4 night including a two-run single for Tennessee’s Jeff Bultinck (Sterling Heights, MI) and a two-run ninth-inning blast in a 3-5 finish for Brett Maddox (Lake Butler, FL), the Tornado found themselves eliminated after two championship seasons.  Jacob White (Elkin, NC) picked up the win, working 5 2-3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.

Another upset happened over the mountains in Spartanburg, SC, where the No. 4 Carolina Chaos – who won a league-least 11 games this season -- took down No. 1 Spartanburg, 4-1, alluding to the teams’ first meeting in 2010, a 3-1 Chaos win at Spartanburg.  Carolina led 2-0 when Spartanburg got on the board in the second, adding insurance runs in the fourth and fifth.  Cameron Allmendinger (Daniel Island, SC) went 3-4 with an RBI double, while Matt Discon (Picayune, MS) was 2-5 with a double and two runs scored.  Cody Maas (Alpharetta, GA) also turned in a two-hit day with an RBI.  Michael Hanzlik (Blythewood, SC) struck out eight Blue Eagles in 5 1-3 innings to collect the win, while Kyle McGuire (Hartly, DE) fanned another four and allowed just one hit in 3 2-3 innings for the save.

As a No. 3 seed, Asheville find themselves on familiar turf at T.C. Roberson High School against Carolina, starting at 7 PM, with a chance at the division title.

Division Champions clash for the league’s Jeffers Cup in a three-game series starting Thursday.  Based on divisional and overall record, the East Division Champion stands to host the series.

Established in 1999, Southern Collegiate Baseball League adopted two divisions of four teams and the new divisional playoff format this season after adding its newest member, the Statesville Owls.  Stretching from northeast Tennessee through the Piedmont of North Carolina and into the Upstate of South Carolina, the league attracts players and coaches from NCAA Division I and II, NJCAA and NAIA schools.  In 2010, players represented 28 states, Canada and the Dominican Republic.  A member of the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball (NACSB), Southern Collegiate Baseball League and its members are officially sanctioned by Major League Baseball.

Divisional Championship Games – Tuesday – July 20th

For more information on player rosters and statistics, schedules and results, and links to individual team sites, please visit: www.scbl.org. 

Contact:

Brad MacKeith, Marketing Director

Southern Collegiate Baseball League

Telephone: 704.799.2200

E-mail: Brad@scblbaseball.org

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