AUBURN, AL – Auburn's Paul Burnside tossed six scoreless innings as the UNC Greensboro baseball squad dropped a 4-2 decision to the Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
Burnside (2-0) allowed only four hits and struck out five in six innings. UNCG's starter Ryan Falcon (0-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on three hits while recording a strikeout in 4-2/3 innings on the mound.
After 4-1/2 scoreless innings, Auburn tallied three runs in the bottom of the fifth to gain the 3-0 advantage. Dustin Spruill singled to right field to start things and scored three batters later when Josh Donaldson singled to down the left line. Mike Bianucci followed with a single to left to score Luke Greinke and Donaldson.
UNCG got on the board in the seventh when Ricky Orton led off the inning by reaching on an error. Second baseman Tim Carrier ripped a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third. Matt Gaski followed with a ground out to plate Orton.
The Tigers grabbed another run in the bottom of the eighth to extend their lead back to three. After the Spartans recorded two outs, Spruill sent a double to left field. Eric Skinner followed with another double to left center, driving home Spruill.
With the Tigers up 4-1 heading into the final frame, Jake Linney gave the Spartans some life by blasting a lead off homer to right field to cut the deficit to two. UNCG, however, could not get any closer as Gaski, who represented the tying run, struck out leaving Corey Overholtzer stranded on second.
Junior Tim Carrier finished as the only Spartan to tally more than one hit by going 2-for-5 from the plate. Both Gaski and Linney finished with one RBI.
UNCG and Auburn finished up the three game series on Sunday afternoon beginning at 2:30 pm at Plainsman Park
AGATE
Score by Innings R H E
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UNC Greensboro...... 000 000 101 - 2 6 0
Auburn.............. 000 030 01X - 4 7 2
Pitchers: UNC Greensboro – Falcon; Gilliam (5); Martin, G. (7); McCall (8)
Pitchers: Auburn – Burnside; Dennis (7); Greinke (9)
Win-Burnside (2-0) Loss-Falcon (0-1)
