Baseball: Buckner, Forest City Make History
August 15, 2009 11:01 AM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
August 15, 2009
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| Grant Buckner |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University baseball player Grant Buckner helped guide the top-ranked Forest City Owls of the Coastal Plain League to the Petit Cup Championship last night.
The Forest City Owls, who became the first CPL team to be ranked No. 1 in the country by Perfect Game Crosschecker’s summer league national poll, swept a doubleheader against the Peninsula Pilots, 5-1, 5-1, in a best of three series to win their first-ever title.
Buckner, who will enter his redshirt junior season at WVU, finished the CPL season among the team’s offensive leaders with a .274 batting average, two home runs and 32 RBIs. The Elkview, W.Va., native finished his redshirt sophomore campaign batting .325 with five home runs, 45 RBIs and a .515 slugging percentage for the Mountaineers.
The everyday right fielder started all 55 games last season, and held a low strikeout ratio by fanning just once in every 12 plate appearances.
The Forest City Owls set the single-season record for victories in the CPL, finishing 46-9 and winning the first half and second half West Division Championship. Their 22-2 start was the best in the league’s history, while their 24 first half wins and 25 home victories also set league marks. The Owls also became the first CPL team since 2005 to go undefeated in the postseason, winning all five contests.
The CPL is known as one of the nation’s most competitive wooden-bat summer leagues. It is compiled of 14 teams from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
