Two North Carolinians and three players (pictured L-R, courtesy of their respective SID offices) who posted some impressive statistics with summer league teams in 2011 are among the most recent group of players added to the roster of the Asheboro Copperheads for the 2012 season.

Corbin Shive of Charlotte and Jonathan Holt of East Carolina, both Tar Heel natives, will stay close to home to play this summer. Shive is a junior who hails from the Salisbury area. He played at East Rowan High and also helped lead Rowan County to state and regional American Legion championships several years ago. Shive will actually be playing his third season in the Coastal Plain League. He spent both 2010 and 2011 with the Petersburg Generals as a pitcher/first baseman. Holt, a Clemmons native and West Forsyth graduate, hit .284 in 18 games as a freshman outfielder for East Carolina last spring and is expected to compete for a starting role this spring. Holt’s older brother Greg, who played at North Carolina and later signed with the Washington Nationals, spent the 2008 summer with the Copperheads.

Three out-of-state players who bring impressive credentials to the Copperheads will be Angel Ibanez of Texas Pan American, Brendan Costantino of NCAA Division II power Seton Hill, and James Lomangino of defending Big East champion St. John’s. Ibanez and Costantino are versatile players who have experience as both infielders and outfielders, while Lomangino is a right-handed pitcher who spent the 2011 summer season in the Cape Cod League.

Ibanez played first base most of last spring in college, but can also play third, second and the outfield. A 6-2, 190-pound junior from Mission, Texas, the left-handed hitting Ibanez was an All-Star with the Rockville Express in the Cal Ripken League each of the past two summers. A college teammate of 2011 Copperhead Mike McCarthy, Ibanez hit .348 with three homers, six triples and 11 doubles for the UTPA Broncos last spring and followed that up in the summer by hitting .391 for Rockville with 21 stolen bases. He finished second in the league in both batting average and total hits.

Costantino, a 5-8, 165-pound sophomore infielder/outfielder from Monongahela, Pa., had a breakout summer for the Sherrill Silversmiths in the New York Collegiate Baseball League in 2011, hitting a league-best .417 with an eye-popping 63 stolen bases. Costantino hit .317 in his freshman year for the Division II Seton Hill (Pa.) Griffins, breaking into the starting lineup midway through the season.

Lomangino is a 6-0, 210-pound red-shirt sophomore who sat out the college season last spring after transferring to St. John’s from the junior college ranks. Despite not pitching in the spring, The Ronkonkoma, N.Y., native played for Yarmouth-Dennis in the Cape last summer, going 2-0 with a 2.39 ERA in 26 1/3 innings. He had a 1.64 ERA as a starter.

Shive worked mostly on the mound for the Atlantic 10 49ers as a freshman, then saw most of his action either as a first baseman or DH for Charlotte in 2011. He came on strong down the stretch and finished with a .305 average that included a strong showing in NCAA regional action. The 49ers expect him to be in the lineup every day as either the DH or at first base. Shive split time between the mound and first for Petersburg last summer.

The Asheboro Copperheads are a member of the Coastal Plain League, the nation’s hottest summer collegiate baseball league. Celebrating its 16th season in 2012, the CPL features 14 teams playing in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The CPL gives college players the chance to refine their skills with the use of wooden bats. The CPL has had over 930 alumni drafted and 46 alums make their Major League debut thus far. For more information on the Coastal Plain League, please visit the league website at http://www.coastalplain.com, and be sure to friend the league on Facebook (at http://www.facebook.com/coastalplainleague). For additional information on the Copperheads, please visit the team’s website at http://www.teamcopperhead.com.

David Camp

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