CHARLESTON, SC UNC Greensboro defeated No. 27 College of Charleston 10-5 in game three of a three-game Southern Conference series on Sunday evening at Patriots Point Field. With the win, the Spartans took two of three from the Cougars for the first time since 2001 and are the first SoCon team to capture a series at CofC this season.
UNCG (27-25, 13-11 SoCon) scored a run in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. Junior Tim Carrier led things off with a single and a sacrifice bunt by Matt Gaski allowed him to reach second. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Carrier came into score when Guy Welsh sent a sacrifice fly to right. College of Charleston's Ben Lasater evened the score in the same inning on a RBI single to center.
Carrier put the Spartans up 2-1 in the second when he laced a single up the middle to score Brandon Harvey, who doubled to lead off the inning. UNCG added another run in the third on a Harvey RBI groundout to take the two-run advantage.
The Cougars (37-15, 18-6 SoCon), however, responded in the same inning with four runs to take a 5-3 lead. Oliver Marmol led off with a hit to right-center and advanced to third after stealing two bases. Two batters later, Graham Maiden plated Marmol on an outfield single. Lasater followed with a two-run double and was brought home when Alex Garabedian connected for a RBI two-bagger to give CofC the two-run advantage.
The Spartans cut the Cougar lead to one in the fourth, making it 5-4 in favor of CofC. Adam Deleo walked and was followed by back-to-back singles from Sam Martin and Carrier to load the bases for Gaski. The junior grounded into a double play but was able to score Deleo from third.
UNCG took the lead back in the seventh and struck for six runs with the help of a pair of CofC errors. With the bases loaded and two outs, Harvey reached on an error to the pitcher and scored Carrier. Corey Overholtzer earned a walk that plated Ricky Orton and Deleo laced a 2 RBI single to left. He advanced to second on another Cougar error that allowed Overholtzer to score the Spartans' fifth run of the inning. Martin picked up his second hit of the night and brought Deleo home to leave the score at 10-5.
Nick Starnes (5-4) earned the win after pitching 6-2/3 innings of scoreless relief for UNCG. The Haw River, NC product struck out three batters and scattered just six hits in the win.
Jake Goldberg (6-1) was handed his first loss on the season after allowing three runs on three hits in 3-2/3 innings of relief.
Carrier led the Spartan offense, finishing 3-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored. Deleo went 1-for-3 with two RBI and Martin tallied two hits and a RBI.
The Spartans return to UNCG Baseball Stadium when they host UNC Asheville on Wednesday beginning at 6 pm.
AGATE
Score by Innings R H E
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UNC Greensboro...... 111 100 600 - 10 10 1
Coll. of Charleston. 104 000 000 - 5 12 2
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Pitchers: UNCG Shelton; Starnes (3)
Pitchers: College of Charleston Beliveau; Goldberg (4); Tomlinson (7); Lynn (7)
Win Nick Starnes (5-4) Loss Jake Goldberg (6-1)
- UNCG -
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