UNCG to host cross-town rival North Carolina A&T
North Carolina A&T (6-12, 0-1 MEAC) vs. UNCG (13-6, 5-1 SoCon)
UNCG Baseball Stadium • Greensboro, N.C.
March 23, 2011 • Game 20 • 6 p.m.
LiveStats: UNCGSpartans.com
Video: Spartan All Access
Storylines:
• Coming off its fifth weekend series win in as many tries, UNCG will look to parlay that weekend success into its lone midweek game as the Spartans will host cross-town rival North Carolina A&T on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
• Last weekend, the Spartans took the weekend series from Appalachian State, 2-1. UNCG rallied for a 5-3 win in the opening game on Friday as Trevor Edwards fell just a triple shy of the cycle. The Mountaineers tied up the series with a 4-2 win on Saturday as UNCG left a total of 16 runners on base in the game. The Spartans were able to win the rubber game on Sunday 5-3 to win its seconds Southern Conference series in as many tries.
• UNCG leads the all-time series against the Aggies, 35-16, dating back to 1991. Last season, the two teams met only once with UNCG coming out victorious, 12-5, at NewBridge Bank Park. The Spartans were able to score at least one run in six of the eight innings in which they batted. The last time the two teams met at UNCG Baseball Stadium was in 2009 when the Aggies took a narrow 7-6 win over UNCG.
• UNCG's sweep of Western Carolina on March 11-13 was the first weekend sweep for the Spartans in Southern Conference play since May of 2008 when UNCG swept College of Charleston. It was also the first time UNCG had swept Western Carolina in a series since 2004 when the Spartans completed the feat on the road.
• North Carolina A&T comes into the game with a 6-12 record overall and 0-1 mark in the MEAC to start the season. The Aggies started the year with a 5-3 record before falling in nine of their last 10 contests.
• Last Wednesday, the Spartans defeated Princeton in a pitchers' duel, 1-0. Six UNCG pitchers combined to pitch the seven-hit shutout. It marked the first shutout for UNCG since a 1-0 win over Connecticut on March 2, 2008. Cambric Moye delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning to score Ray Quinones from second and the pitching staff made that lead hold.
• After finishing fourth in the nation last season by being hit by a pitch 26 times, Chris Barker has picked where he left off this season. Through 19 games this season, Barker has already been hit by a pitch on seven occasions. He only ranks behind Neal Pritchard from Elon and Alex Lee from Wofford in the conference in hit by pitches, after the two have been hit 10 and eight times, respectively.
• On Jan. 19, the UNCG baseball team reached a milestone in the 21st season of the program. The 10-9 walk-off win on Saturday gave head coach Mike Gaski his 600th career win. The win was also the 600th in program history as Gaski has been the lone skipper for the Spartans over the past 21 seasons.
• Following the 2010 season, junior Blake Hassebrock was drafted in the 8th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Oakland Athletics. It marked the second-straight season that UNCG has had a player drafted in the 8th round by the Athletics as Rob Gilliam was selected in that slot in 2009. Hassebrock signed with the Athletics a few weeks after being drafted and ended his season with the Vancouver Canadians. UNCG has now had at least one pitcher drafted in 12 of the past 14 seasons.
• The Spartans also return two of their three weekend starters this season in Warren Slack and Colby Hyatt. Hyatt finished in fifth in the Southern Conference last season with a 4.29 ERA to go along with his 7-4 record, while Slack was 10th in the SoCon with his 4.75 ERA. Slack was also ninth in the league last year with 75 strikeouts.
• UNCG will welcome 18 newcomers to the team this season as it looks to plug some holes left by exiting players. An area that will receive the most help will be the pitching staff. After losing Hassebrock to the draft and Alex Shelton to graduation, UNCG needed to bolster pitching staff that featured just nine arms last season. The Spartans have brought in nine new arms this season, led by Jarett Miller who will join the weekend rotation. Four of those nine new pitchers are left handed-pitchers, which was necessary after UNCG lost its only left-handed pitcher from a season ago in Shelton.
• UNCG has made admission free for all home games this season at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. Fans are encouraged to come out and support the Spartans all season long on campus.
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