Box Score
Chris Mason became the eighth Spartan pitcher to record 200 strikeouts for a career |
GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and never looked back, as the Spartans defeated Liberty, 7-3, in a non-conference baseball game Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
UNCG (21-11) took advantage of two Liberty errors in the opening frame to take an early 1-0 lead. Jeremy Roulin led off the inning with a single. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the Liberty catcher. Roulin scored two batters later when David Adams reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. The Spartans tallied four runs in the bottom half of the second to push the lead up to five runs. Freshman Jake Linney drove in the first on a sacrifice fly to center that brought in Sean Snell from third. Chris Mason then cleared the bases with a two-run triple to center field, while Jay Maule drove in Mason with a single to center.
Liberty (22-11) got on the board in the fourth inning on a two-out double by P.K. Keller driving in Phillip Laurent who reached base on a lead-off double.
The Spartans added a pair in the seventh inning increasing the lead to 7-1. With the bases loaded and one out, freshman Wes McCall connected on a single to center that brought in Linney from third base. Junior Danny McClure, who entered the game as a pinch hitter, drove in Mason with the Spartans' final run of the game on a single to center.
The Flames cut the lead to 7-3 in the eighth inning. Michael Just led the inning off with a triple then scored on Aaron Grijalva's sacrifice fly to center. Laurent followed that up with a solo home run to center field.
Linney and Mason led the Spartans with two hits each. Mason also had a game-high two runs batted in. Just and Laurent, along with Keller and Jeff Brown had two hits apiece for Liberty.
Patrick Currin went five innings, allowing four hits and one earned run to get the win for the Spartans. Currin, the junior right-hander from Chapel Hill, NC, improves his record to 3-2 on the season. Mason allowed two runs in three innings of relief to record his second save of the season. Mason, the junior right-hander from Cherryville, NC, struck out six batters on the afternoon and became the eighth Spartan pitcher to record 200 strikeouts for a career. David Bechtold suffered the loss for Liberty. The senior left-hander surrendered five runs in 5-2/3 innings of work.
UNCG returns to action on Tuesday, April 19 against cross-town rival North Carolina A&T. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
UNC Greensboro 7, Liberty 3 (Apr 17, 2005 at Greensboro, NC)
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Liberty............. 000 100 020 - 3 9 3 (22-11)
UNC Greensboro...... 140 000 20X - 7 10 0 (21-11)
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Pitchers: Liberty - BECHTOLD, D.; THOMPSON, P.(6); PAGE, R.(7); WILLIAMS, S.(8).
UNC Greensboro - Currin; McCall(6); Mason(7).
Win-Currin(3-2) Save-Mason(2) Loss-BECHTOLD, D.(5-4) T-2:38 A-302
HR LIB - LAURENT, P. (1).
McCall faced 2 batters in the 7th.
