GREENSBORO, NC – Davidson scored eight runs over the final six innings as UNC Greensboro fell short of claiming its first series sweep of the season as the Spartans fell 9-6 to the Wildcats Sunday afternoon at UNCG Baseball Stadium.
UNCG (16-22, 6-6 SoCon) scored a run in the first inning when Jermaine Mitchell smoked a triple to right-centerfield and Guy Welsh followed with a single through the right side for his team-leading 27th RBI of the season.
Davidson (13-23, 3-12 SoCon) quickly tied the game in the next half inning on a sacrifice fly from designated hitter Rob Wilson to score Gregory Zage who doubled to open the inning.
The Spartans tallied two more runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-1 lead after scoring on a groundout on the infield and a wild pitch. The Wildcats, however, regained the lead in the top of the fourth after scoring three runs on RBI singles from Wilson, Blake Osborn and Hugh Eden.
Osborn put the visiting Wildcats in front 6-3 with a two-run homerun over the left-centerfield wall in the top of the sixth. After the wildcats put another run on the board in the eighth on Wilson's third RBI of the game, Adam Deleo left the Spartans trailing but just one after the sophomore catcher crushed a three-run homerun over the rightfield wall. Wes McCall singled to open the frame and David Adams followed with a double before Deleo connected for his second roundtripper of the season.
Jay Heafner, the SoCon preseason player of the year, answered with his own homerun in the top of the ninth to give the Wildcats a pair of insurance runs. Ronnie Shore singled to start the inning and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from catch Alex Entreking before Heafner laced a ball of the leftfield foul pole.
Heafner, who pitched a perfect ninth inning, earned his seventh save of the season after allowing one run on two hits in two innings of work.
Starting pitcher Brant West (4-4) earned the win after giving up three runs on nine hits while striking out two in 6-2/3 innings of mound duty.
Sophomore Wes McCall (1-7) suffered the loss for the Spartans after being touched for four runs on six hits while striking out one in 3-1/3 innings on the hill.
Sean Snell extended his hitting streak to 14 games after going 2-for-4 on the afternoon while Greg Feltes and Welsh also added a pair of hits. Deleo, who finished with a season-high three RBI, paced the Spartans in that department.
UNCG returns to the diamond Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. when the Spartans welcome the second-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels to UNCG Baseball Stadium.
AGATE:
Davidson 9, UNC Greensboro 6 (Apr 16, 2006 at Greensboro, NC)
Davidson............ 010 302 012 - 9 14 0 (13-23, 3-12)
UNC Greensboro...... 102 000 030 - 6 12 0 (16-22, 6-6)
Pitchers: Davidson - Brant West; Rob Shenk(7); Jay Heafner(8). UNC Greensboro - Wes McCall;
Greg Martin(4); Ryan Clear(8); Clay Gibson(9); Jonathan Nichols(9).
Win-Brant West(4-4) Save-Jay Heafner(7) Loss-Wes McCall(1-7) T-2:51 A-266
HR DAV - Jay Heafner; Blake Osborn.
HR UNCG - Adam Deleo.
Martin, G. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
Shenk faced 2 batters in the 8th.
- UNCG -
