FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Division Champs Lake Norman, Asheville to Face Off for SCBL Title
Huntersville, NC (July 21, 2010) After coming up short two years in a row, the East Division Champion Lake Norman Copperheads have a third chance at the Southern Collegiate Baseball League Championship, as they take on the West Division Champion Asheville Redbirds in a three-game series starting here tomorrow tonight.
Lake Norman struck from behind to defeat the longtime divisional rival Morganton Aggies for the division title last night here, 4-1. After falling behind 1-0, Dan Haverstick (Marlton, NJ) tied things with an RBI single to score Tyler Horan (Middleboro, MA) in the sixth inning. Maintaining the momentum, the Copperheads capitalized on three Aggie errors in the seventh to plate three more runs and seal the victory. Wes Hatley (Norwood, NC) picked up the win after four scoreless innings in relief, giving up only one Aggie hit. Brantley Hattrich (Matthews, NC) retired the side in order in the ninth with a strikeout, recording the save. Offensively, Tyler Zupcic (Charlotte, NC) finished 2-3 with a walk while Horan was 2-4 with three stolen bases. Morganton’s Ryan Bostian (Kannapolis, NC) was 2-3 with an RBI, while Casey Gebhardt (Charlotte, NC) finished 2-4 in the lead-off spot with a double and a run scored.
Farther up in the mountains, the Asheville Redbirds held on to lock up their first West Division title over the Carolina Chaos, 6-3. Starter Kyle Watson (Cooper City, FL) picked up the win, allowing a run in five innings. A Cody Buch (Charlotte, NC) home run in the fourth gave Watson a 3-1 lead, and the eventual winning run came across in the fifth. Anthony Lanetta (Asheville, NC) went 3-4 with a double, scoring an insurance run in the sixth and another in the eighth off a Casey Allison (Charlotte, NC) sacrifice fly. Allison was 2-3 with a double, while Buch finished 2-4 along with Mike
Vaughn (Cornelius, NC). For the Chaos, Matt Discon (Picayune, MS) scored two of the three runs, going 2-4 with a double, while William Henderson (Rutherfordton, NC) also finished 2-4.
Lake Norman hosts Game 1 (and Game 3, if necessary) while Game 2 happens in Asheville at T.C. Roberson High School. Tomorrow night’s game happens at 7 PM at Hopewell High School, where the Redbirds lost 5-4 in their last visit and where they are 1-2 this season. However, they are 4-2 overall against the Copperheads this season, winning the last two meetings by a combined score of 13-2. Last time out, Asheville shut out Lake Norman 6-0, Kale Sumner (Kailua, HI) was 2-3 with three RBIs and Brent Queen (Honolulu, HI) tossed five scoreless innings with just two hits allowed.
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.
League Championship Game 1
East Division Champion
Lake Norman Copperheads
vs.
West Division Champion
Asheville Redbirds
Thursday, July 22nd
7 PM – First Pitch
Copperheads Home Field
Hopewell High School
Huntersville, North Carolina
