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Baseball Opens SoCon Slate With Home Series Against Elon
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG baseball team becomes the last Southern Conference team to open league play this weekend, hosting Elon for a three-game series at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Spartans are coming off a pair of midweek losses to Lehigh and Rhode Island while the Phoenix fell at UNC Wilmington Tuesday before rebounding to beat Virginia Tech Wednesday.
The teams will begin the series Friday at 6 p.m. before playing at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Senior outfielder Christian Wolfe (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) posted a pair of extra base hits in the Lehigh contest with a double and a three-run home run to end the day with two runs scored and three RBI in five at bats. Also tallying multiple hits was senior infielder Trevor Edwards (Toronto, Ontario/Taddle Creek Academy) as he clubbed his 30th career home run to lead off the bottom of the third. Edwards is the Southern Conference active career leader in round-trippers.
The Spartans reached double figures in hits with 10 against Rhode Island as sophomore outfielder Eric Kalbfleisch (Pilot Mountain, N.C./North Stokes) and redshirt freshman infielder Nin Marrero (Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford) were responsible for two base knocks each. Additionally, junior catcher Cambric Moye (Goldsboro, N.C./Eastern Wayne) tallied his team-leading fifth home run of the season – a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the second.
# Elon holds a 28-12 advantage in the all-time series. The Phoenix swept all three games at Latham Park last season.
# Link Jarrett is the second head coach in the 24-year history of UNCG baseball. He spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator at Auburn University. The game with East Carolina marks a return to Greenville for Jarrett as he served as the Pirates' infield coach, hitting instructor and recruiting coordinator from 2005-09.
# UNCG owns the Southern Conference's second-best batting average, hitting .307 as a team.
# The Spartans began the season 4-0 for the second-straight season before falling to Dayton twice Feb. 24. Last year, UNCG ran off seven-straight victories to begin the campaign before losing to Radford.
# UNCG opens the 2013 season playing 19 of its first 21 games at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Spartans played at East Carolina March 5 and will travel to Raleigh to face NC State March 19. In all, the Blue and Gold hosts 36 games during the year.
# After hitting just 39 home runs last season, the Spartans have already clubbed 15 in their first 15 contests. UNCG is one of seven SoCon clubs with double-digit round-trippers.
# Sophomore righty Lee Gilliam has emerged as a top option for the Spartans on the bump. He sports a 1-0 record with a team-low 0.81 ERA and team-high 22.1 innings pitched. He also leads UNCG in strikeouts with 17 while his ERA is the second-lowest in the Southern Conference.
# Senior infielder Trevor Edwards has hit four home runs this season to bring his career total to 30. He is the Southern Conference active career leader in round-trippers and RBI while also placing inside the top five in slugging percentage and doubles.
# The Spartans return to the diamond next Tuesday, traveling to nationally-ranked NC State before hosting Ivy League outfit Princeton Wednesday.
- UNCG -
