2023 C2C Baseball Tournament preview banner

2023 C2C Baseball Championship Preview

5/11/2023 1:00:00 PM

The Rundown

The third-ranked and top-seeded Salisbury University baseball team begins its pursuit of a third straight Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) championship and 18th conference title overall. The Sea Gulls will host the 2023 C2C Tournament at Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium on Friday, May 12, through Sunday, May 14.

#C2CBSB ?? | C2C Championship Seeding

1?? Salisbury
2?? Christopher Newport
3?? Mary Washington

?? https://t.co/ei27UmSiy3

?? https://t.co/Vpf2jCaiqA pic.twitter.com/ztD861OXz2
— Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) (@C2CAthConf) May 8, 2023

Tournament Schedule

Friday, May 12 - **WEATHER UPDATE**
Game 1 - #2 Christopher Newport vs. #3 Mary Washington, 9 a.m. (2 seed home)
Game 2 - #1 Salisbury vs. game 1 loser, 12 p.m. (1 seed home)
Game 3 - #1 Salisbury vs. game 1 winner, 3 p.m. (1 seed home)

IF THREE TEAMS REMAIN
Saturday, May 13
Game 4 - #2 Christopher Newport vs. #3 Mary Washington, 3:30 p.m. (2 seed home)

Sunday, May 14
Game 5 - #1 Salisbury vs. game 4 winner, Noon (1 seed away if lower seed unbeaten)

IF TWO TEAMS REMAIN
Saturday, May 13
Game 4 - 2-0 team vs. 1-1 team, 3:30 p.m. (Unbeaten team home)

Sunday, May 14
Game 5 (if necessary) - Noon (Switch from game 4)

Game/Fan Information

Live Video

Live Stats

Tournament Homepage

The 2023 Sea Gulls

#2 Danny Sheeler | Jr. 1B

#22 Kavi Caster | Sr. OF

#28 Jacob Ference | Sr. C

#1 Jimmy Adkins | Sr. RHP

#25 Jackson Balzan | Sr. LHP

#29 Robbie Hollenbeck | Sr. LHP

Salisbury finished the regular season with a 29-5 record, going 3-1 in C2C play and earning the top seed on a Massey Ratings tiebreaker.
The Sea Gulls opened their campaign with an eight-game winning streak and at one point won 14 in a row from March 19 through April 19.
SU went 6-3 against ranked foes with victories against Cortland (twice), Rowan, Catholic, Christopher Newport and Randolph Macon.
Salisbury enters postseason play with a 6-1 record in one-run games, winning their final four regular season contests on one-run margins.
Salisbury saw multiple program records fall during the 2023 season. Pitcher Corey Burton became the Sea Gulls' all-time leader in pitching appearances (73), while outfielder Cameron Hyder now holds the SU records for career games (180) and hits (260).
Three Sea Gulls are currently engaged in a home run chase, with Jacob Ference (11), Danny Sheeler (10) and Kavi Caster (9) all in hot pursuit of the SU single-season record of 13, set by Dave Westervelt in 1998. Salisbury has hit 54 home runs as a team this season, two shy of the program standard set by the 2009 Sea Gulls.
Several other records could fall before the end of the season, with pitcher Jimmy Adkins approaching the career innings mark and shortstop Stephen Rice just four doubles from matching the program standard.
First baseman Danny Sheeler became the third straight Sea Gull to capture C2C Player of the Year, following outfielder Kavi Caster in 2022 and outfielder Justin Meekins in 2021.
Sheeler and Caster were joined by five other Sea Gulls on the All-C2C First Team: starting pitchers Jimmy Adkins and Jackson Balzan, catcher Jacob Ference, shortstop Stephen Rice and outfielder Cameron Hyder.
Salisbury also saw three players earn All-C2C Honorable Mention: third baseman Luke Weddell and relief pitchers Robbie Hollenbeck and Brandon Epstein.
Despite playing five fewer games than CNU and UMW, Salisbury leads the C2C by a wide margin in total runs (371), home runs (54), RBIs (332) and stolen bases (88) while batting a league-best .342 as a team.
Danny Sheeler leads the C2C in batting average (.426) and RBIs (43) and is one home run (10) off the lead in pursuit of a Triple Crown.
Kavi Caster ranks second in the league with a .375 batting average, with Cameron Hyder (.366), Scott Cameron (.361) and Jacob Ference (.359) rank fourth-through-sixth.
Caster slots third in the conference with 40 RBIs. Hyder is tied for fifth in rib-eyes with 36, while Luke Weddell (31), Ference (30) and Stephen Rice (29) all rank inside the top 10.
The Sea Gulls boast six of the top 10 basestealers in the C2C, with Caster (17) leading the way in second place.
Jackson Balzan boasts top-five rankings in the C2C in wins (7) and ERA (3.46), as well as two back of fourth place in strikeouts (55).
Jimmy Adkins ranks top-five in the league in ERA (3.13), strikeouts (63) and saves (2).
Salisbury leads NCAA Division III in scoring offense, averaging 10.9 runs per game.
The Sea Gulls rank top-10 nationally in eight other categories, including slugging percentage (.572), doubles per game (2.68), home runs (54), home runs per game (1.59), sacrifice bunts (50), HBPs (88), fielding percentage (.978) and double plays turned per game (1.03).
Luke Weddell has established himself as the nation's best sacrifice bunt artist, leading Division III in total sac bunts (15) and sac bunts per game (0.54).
Scott Cameron averages 0.62 HBPs per game, good for second in the nation, and his 21 total HBPs slot seventh.
Jimmy Adkins owns the sixth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.00) and 11th-fewest walks allowed per nine innings (0.99).
Danny Sheeler ranks top-65 in batting average (.426), on-base percentage (.541), and slugging percentage (.787).
Brandon Epstein and Robbie Hollenbeck are tied for 14th nationally with 21 pitching appearances.

Scouting Report

#2 Christopher Newport Captains

#3 Mary Washington Eagles

Tenth-ranked Christopher Newport went 31-8 in the regular season, including 3-1 in C2C play after splitting with Salisbury and sweeping Mary Washington.
The Captains earned three of the five major C2C postseason awards: Pitcher of the Year (Dylan Weber), Rookie of the Year (Josh Reinhold) and Coaching Staff of the Year (John Harvell).
Five CNU players landed on the All-C2C Tournament Team with two honorable mentions.
Salisbury defeated CNU 6-5 at home on Apr. 29, while the Captains won 8-2 in Newport News on May 3, snapping the Sea Gulls' nine-game winning streak in the series.

Mary Washington finished the regular season 27-13, going 0-4 against C2C foes with sweeps at the hands of SU and CNU.
Xavier Herring was recognized as C2C Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Eagles also garnered five All-C2C nods and three honorable mentions.
Salisbury defeated UMW 10-8 at home on Apr. 16 won 4-3 in Fredericksburg on May 7. SU has won 18 straight games against the Eagles dating back to 2017.

The C2C Tournament is never easy, and as always this weekend will be a great showcase for our senior leadership. We will have to play complementary baseball and get great execution from our offense in order to come out on top.

Troy Brohawn, Sea Gull Head Baseball Coach

What's At Stake

Due to the C2C only fielding three baseball teams, the winner of the C2C Tournament will not receive an automatic bid to into the NCAA Tournament. C2C member schools will need a Pool B or Pool C at-large bid to make the field.
The Division III selection show is scheduled for Monday, May 15 at 12 p.m. on NCAA.com.

The Rundown

Tournament Schedule

The 2023 Sea Gulls

Scouting Report

What's At Stake

Read More