GREENSBORO, NC Junior Brandon Harvey's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth off Josh McLaughlin catapulted UNC Greensboro past College of Charleston, 3-2, Friday evening at UNCG Baseball Stadium in the Spartans' Southern Conference opener.
Harvey, a native of Roseville, CA, calmly strolled to the plate with one out and deposited the first pitch he saw over the left-centerfield wall to give the Spartans their fourth consecutive win and snap a seven-game losing skip to the Cougars.
Senior right-hander Patrick Currin(4-2) picked up his third straight win after allowing no hits for a second consecutive appearance. The Chapel Hill, NC native entered the game in the bottom of the seventh with two outs with the score knotted at two runs apiece in relief of starter Nick Starnes and got Philip Coker to strike out swinging to end the inning.
Currin has now pitched 7-1/3 straight innings without surrendering a hit.
Nick Starnes got a no decision for the second straight Friday, but once again was outstanding for the Spartans. The
Haw River, NC product allowed just two runs on six hits while striking out five in 6-2/3 innings of mound duty.
McLaughlin (1-2) took the loss for the Cougars after allowing just the one run and hit in an inning on the mound. Starter Nick Chigges went seven innings for the visitors and allowed just two runs on seven hits to also get a no decision.
College of Charleston (18-5, 3-1 SoCon) struck first in the top of the third to take a one run lead when Oliver Marmol smacked a home run to left field to break the scoreless tie. The Cougars took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a two-out RBI single to leftfield from Jess Easterling.
UNCG (9-14, 1-0 SoCon) answered in its half of the fourth and cut the deficit in half on an RBI single from Wes McCall with two outs that scored Logan Smith from second. The Spartans tied the game in the next inning on a two-out RBI single from Jermaine Mitchell to score Mike Mongiello from third.
Mitchell, McCall and David Adams each finished the game 2-for-4 to lead the Spartans at the plate. Easterling and Joey Friddle each recorded a pair of hits for the Cougars.
UNCG and College of Charleston resume a three-game series Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
AGATE:
UNC Greensboro 3, College of Charleston 2 (Mar 24, 2006 at Greensboro, NC)
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Coll. of Charleston. 001 100 000 - 2 6 5 (18-5, 3-1-0)
UNC Greensboro...... 000 110 001 - 3 9 1 (9-14, 1-0-0)
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Pitchers: College of Charleston - Chigges; Monsma(8); McLaughlin(8). UNC Greensboro -
Nick Starnes; Patrick Currin(7).
Win-Patrick Currin(4-2) Loss-McLaughlin(1-2) T-2:35 A-307
HR COFC - Marmol.
HR UNCG - Brandon Harvey.
- UNCG -
