The schedule for the Mountain East Conference baseball tournament has been set, with West Virginia State squaring off against West Liberty Thursday at 3 p.m. at Epling Stadium in Beckley.
The Yellow Jackets (29-13, 24-8 MEC) are the No. 1 seed out of the South division, while the Hilltoppers are seeded third in the North.
The North's No. 1 seed Shepherd will play the South's No. 3 seed Concord at 11 a.m. Thursday to kickoff the double-elimination event, with No. 2 seeds Notre Dame (North) and Glenville State (South) playing at 7 p.m. to wrap up the first day.
The Shepherd-Concord loser will play the State-West Liberty loser at 11 a.m. Friday, followed by the Shepherd-Concord winner against the Notre Dame-Glenville loser at 3 p.m.
The State-West Liberty winner will play the Notre Dame-Glenville winner 7 p.m.
Games will continue Saturday, with the championships set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
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MEC SOFTBALL: The University of Charleston softball team had four players named to the All-Atlantic Region team announced Monday.
Senior third baseman Kelly Browning, junior first baseman Laura Ashlock and junior pitcher Alli Burdette were all first-team selections, while junior outfielder Rachelle Toppings landed on the second team.
Ashlock leads the Golden Eagles with a .376 batting average, just ahead of Toppings (.374) and Browning (.361).
Burdette leads the entire Atlantic Region with 30 wins on the year to go with 195 strikeouts in 210 innings.
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TECH BASEBALL: The WVU Tech baseball team was represented by eight players on the All-Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball team announced Saturday.
Tech juniors Austin Southcott (pitcher), Tanner Levine (first baseman), Brady Groesbeck (second baseman) and senior outfielder Dylan Harvey were each named to the first team, and seniors Kyle Sager, Josh Hudson and Doug Prather and junior Sebastian Gomez-Herrera were second-team nominations.
The Golden Bears set three school records this season, including most wins in a season (40 as of May 6), most consecutive wins (15) and most runs in a single game (23 vs. Cincinnati Christian).
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MEC TRACK: West Virginia Wesleyan's swept both the men's and women's track and field titles at the Mountain East Conference championships that concluded on Sunday.
On the women's side, the Bobcats amassed 348.5 points to take first place, well ahead of Wheeling Jesuit in second place with 198 points. Charleston finished third with 82 points and Concord finished fourth with 69 points.
Wesleyan's Lauren Cvechko was the meet's high-point award winner and was voted field athlete of the year, while veteran coach Jesse Skiles was named the coach of the year. Jesuit's Kelsey Chambers was selected as the track athlete of the year, and Concord's Emilee Henry was tabbed as the freshman of the year.
For the men, Wesleyan scored 219 points to win the championship, while Concord was second with 142 points, Notre Dame placed third with 120 points and Glenville State was fourth with 94 points.
The Bobcats' Tavaris Anderson was the high-point award winner and teammate Dylan Rippeto was voted as the league's field athlete of the year. Notre Dame's Toure McCully was selected as the league's track athlete of the year, and Concord's Jason Weitzel earned freshman of the year honors.
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WVGA GOLF: The West Virginia Golf Association Senior Series continued Monday at the Lewisburg Elks Country Club in Lewisburg.
Hurricane's Harold Payne fired a 3-over par 73 to win the senior flight by three strokes over Rick Moore, Chuck Workman and Jim Grimmett. In the silver division, St. Albans' Al Estepp took home the title after carding a 77 for his first win of the season. Roger Keaton of Daniels shot a 75 to earn another first place finish in the gold division with a five-stroke victory.
The Senior Series will continue Wednesday, May 18 at The Woods Golf Course in Hedgesville.
n The second of two qualifiers for the West Virginia Junior Match Play championship took place Sunday at Silo Golf Club in Lavalette, where eight of 26 golfers advanced to next weekend's match play portion at Parkersburg Golf Club.
Huntington's Josef Dransfeld earned medlaist honors, shooting an even-par 70, edging Charleston's Nicholas Casingal (73) in second. Milton's Noah Mullens (74), Poca's David Scragg (74), Culloden's Zach Chapman (75), Beckley's Isaiah Zaccheo (76), Red House's Alex Hamrick (76) and South Charleston's Joseph Kalaskey (77) also qualified.