Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Christiansburg High School baseball pipeline to Concord continued this week with the announcement by Mason Cullop he had committed to the West Virginia school.
The senior joins three former teammates already playing at Concord where the head coach is Christiansburg alum Drew Bailey.
Cullop said he chose Concord because it felt like another home.
“All of the staff at concord really reached out a hand to make me feel welcomed, as well as the coaching staff keeping it real with me about how the college level of sports is. Also, the campus is super nice and the atmosphere there is something to be around,” he said.
This season, Cullop is batting .367 and has a 2.154 earned run average on the pitcher’s mound, a position he expects to play at Concord. Last season, he finished with a .333 batting average in 21 games played. He was named second team all-district and honorable mention all-region his sophomore year.
Cullop said he hopes to go to college and continue to be educated, while being able to play the sport that he loves.
Concord is located in Athens, West Virginia, and has a current enrollment of 1,389 students.
The Concord Mountain Lions are the athletic teams that represent Concord University in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Mountain Lions compete as members of the Mountain East Conference in all fifteen sports.
A former standout on the Concord mound and former MLB draft pick, Bailey in his second season at the school. Bailey comes to Concord after spending four seasons as the head coach at nearby Bluefield State University.
In his first season at Concord, Bailey coached seven All-Mountain East Conference performers along with two all-region selections, MJ Hunter (Christiansburg alum) and Kaden Swaim. Hunter, Swaim and Matt DiSanti were voted to the All-MEC First Team under Bailey’s tutelage.
Concord just finished the regular season with a 22-24 overall record.
Although Bailey’s background comes in pitching, the first-year CU head coach led the Mountain Lions to the top hitting team in the MEC in 2025, batting .319. Concord posted a 25-27 record in Bailey’s first year in Athens, and qualified for the MEC Tournament. Among the team success for Concord was a series win over nationally ranked Millersville in early March–the first series win in program history over a nationally ranked team.
In four seasons at Bluefield State, Bailey compiled a record of 95-79,
Cullop plans to major in business at Concord.
