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Spartans walk past Albany, 11-5
GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNC Greensboro scored seven runs in the first two innings and received 18 walks as the Spartans defeated Albany 11-5 on Saturday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Zach Furl picked up his first win of the season for the Spartans (5-1) after pitching two innings of relief and giving up only one run on two hits. Blake Hassebrock also pitched four innings of relief while giving up just two hits and striking out four. Ryan White was credited with the loss after allowing seven runs on just two hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Zach Leach, Ray Quinones and Cody Walker all had two RBI for UNCG at the plate, while Leach and Corey Overholtzer each drew four walks on the afternoon.
Pete Eichner went 3-5 on the day with an RBI and Brendan Rowland and Nolan Gaige each added two hits to lead the Great Danes.
The game didn't start well for the Spartans as the Great Danes immediately loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first. Eichner had an RBI single later in the inning and Josh Nethaway added an RBI sacrifice fly to put Albany ahead 2-0.
Drew Gehringer and Overholtzer drew back-to-back walks to lead off the bottom half of the inning. After Gehringer scored on an error by the Great Danes, Jayjack delivered his second triple of the year to right center to score Overholtzer and tie the game at two. A groundout by Quinones scored Jayjack on the next play and Leach followed with his first walk. Walker knocked Leach in on a triple of his own to center field and Taylor Schwarz knocked in the final run of the inning to give UNCG a 5-2 lead after the first inning.
Kyle Crean led off the top of the second with another triple to right center and later scored on a groundout to pull the Great Danes within 5-3.
With two outs in the bottom of the second, the Spartans loaded the bases on three walks. After a pitching change, Leach drew his second walk of the day to score a run and Walker walked home another run as well to put UNCG ahead, 7-3.
The Great Danes walked home two more runners in the fifth inning as well. With one out, Overholtzer singled up the middle and Lloyd Enzor followed with a double to left center. After Jayjack was intentionally walked to load the bases, Quinones drew a walk to score Overholtzer. After another Great Dane pitching change, Leach drew his third walk of the day to score Enzor. Jayjack scored later in the inning on a wild pitch to give the Spartans a 10-3 lead.
With two down in the seventh inning, Leach drew his fourth and final walk and Chris Barker followed with a walk of his own. Kris Richards then delivered a single to right field to score Leach from second and make the score 11-3.
The Great Danes fought back to put two runs across the plate in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 11-5.
The Spartans will look to complete the weekend sweep on Sunday as the two teams meet at 1 p.m. at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
AGATE
UNC Greensboro 11, Albany 5
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Albany.............. 210 000 002 - 5 9
2 (0-2)
UNC Greensboro...... 520 030 10X - 11 6
1 (5-1)
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Pitchers: Albany - White, Ryan; Wilson, Travis(2); Sessa, Nick(2);
Gauthier, Brian(5); O'Connell, Pat(8) and Keppler, Ralph. UNC
Greensboro - Alex Shelton; Zach Furl(1); Blake Hassebrock(3); Wes
McBride(7); Tyler Hollstegge(9) and Ed Jayjack; Zach Leach.
Win-Zach Furl(1-0) Loss-White, Ryan(0-1) T-3:28
A-221
Weather: 42 and sunny
Shelton faced 3 batters in the 1st.
Wilson, T. faced 2 batters in the 2nd.
- UNCG -
