WILMINGTON—From coming up big in the waning moments of N.C. State's baseball season to coming up big to kick off the summer for the Edenton Steamers of the Coastal Plains League. 

Wilmington native Chance Shepard has been on a tear with the bat.

"At the end of the year I was seeing it really well; just felt really relaxed in there," said Shepard.  "I guess that's carried over to here.  I played in Edenton last summer so I know all the coaches and I just feel really comfortable."

With 3 Home Runs and 12 RBI's in his first 7 games with Edenton, Shepard has added a spark to the Steamers lineup since his arrival.

"He played for us last year so he came in as kind of a veteran as you could say in this league," Steamers head coach Bryan Hill explained.  "He came in and made an impact from the get go."

Edenton pitcher and Friday starter for Seton Hall last season, Zach Prendergast added that "He's definitely one of our big power guys in the middle of the lineup; he's an RBI guy; he puts on a show during [batting practice], I'll tell you that.  

"And he's great behind the plate.  He understands what the pitcher trying to do, and he kind of helps us throughout the way."

Between Shepard and one his battery mate Pendergast, the Steamers have picked up steam.  That tandem even combined for 8 and 2/3 innings of perfect baseball against Peninsula earlier this month.

"That was unbelievable," Shepard remarked.  "That was probably that I've ever caught in or seen from a pitcher in my life.  He was so sharp and dialed in right from the start so that guy; he's impressive."

Prendergast said the he has "a lot of confidence out their really with the guys behind me; with the catchers and just confidence in myself - just starting off guys with fastballs trying to get ahead and then mixing up speeds  to keep them off-balanced

And the red hot Steamers hope to continue keeping their opponents off-balanced and they know what it's going to take to bring the Petit Cup back to Chowan County.  

"We've got to stay healthy and stay on track," Coach Hill explained.  "It's a long summer.  There's a lot of distractions here and there but as long as we stay focused, trust each other then we are going to have a good year."

And while his focus is taking one game at a time, Shepard does have one date circled on his calendar, July 9, when the Steamers travel to his hometown of Wilmington to take on the Sharks.

"I love going down to Wilmington," said Shepard.  "We played them a couple of times last year.  Obviously all my family is down there so it's fun going back down there and playing those guys."

But before that Edenton is looking to finish the first half of the CPL season strong.