GREENSBORO, NC Down 2-1 in the fourth inning, UNC Greensboro assembled a mid-game rally to take a commanding lead and an eventual 12-4 victory over UAlbany on Wednesday night at UNCG Baseball Stadium. The victory extends the Spartan win streak to nine-straight since March 15.
The blue and gold will head into their weekend series with Western Carolina holding an overall 17-5 record and a 3-0 undefeated Southern Conference mark. UAlbany dropped to 4-16-1 on the season.
The Great Danes grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the second with two RBI doubles to centerfield. Jamie Liebowitz tallied the first to score Ryan Gugel who was standing on first. Liebowitz was then plated by Ryan Breier's hit.
In the third, first baseman Ricky Orton cut the lead in half with a solo shot out to right center. The homer was his second of the series and eighth of the season.
The Spartans then exploded with five runs the home half of the fourth to take a 6-2 lead. Third baseman Ray Quinones led things off with an RBI single to centerfield to round centerfielder Corey Overholtzer in from second. In the next at-bat, second baseman Tim Carrier bounced a two-run double off the centerfield wall to score both leftfielder Drew Gehringer and Quinones. Orton tallied his second and third RBI of the game with a single to centerfield to bring in Greg Feltes and Carrier.
The Great Danes drove one in to top the fifth, but UNCG shot back with a scattering of six runs between the fifth and the seventh inning to gain a 12-3 advantage. Quinones lined a double down the right field line to bring Pedro Leon around to the plate for the first of three runs in the fifth; the final two came by way of wild pitches.
Orton crushed a 2-2 count solo over the centerfield wall to open up the bottom half of the sixth inning. This was his second of the game, his ninth of the season, and the team's 31st.
UNCG closed out their scoring drive in the seventh with runs scored off of a sacrifice fly and a passed ball.
After improving by just one more in the top of the ninth, UAlbany took their 16th loss of the season and gave UNCG a 12-4 win and their ninth-straight victory of 2008.
The UNCG sticks were led by Ricky Orton who for the second time this year, hit two home runs in a single game. Orton was 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBI and two runs. Tim Carrier was 2-for-4 with three runs, two RBI and two doubles. The Great Danes were led by Sean Donovan who was 2-for-3 with two walks and one run.
Spartan starter Alex Shelton (3-1) recorded his third win of the season after 4.0 innings of work. The sophomore lefthander struck out two and gave up just one walk. UAlbany's Dave Noble (1-2) took the loss after allowing UNCG to take the lead in the fourth inning.
UNCG is back on the road this weekend for their second conference series of the season. Starting Friday evening at 7pm, the Spartans will face the Catamounts of Western Carolina at the Ronnie G. Childress Field in Cullowhee, NC. They will meet again on Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 2pm.
For news about UNCG baseball, complete season schedule, and any other information regarding Spartan athletics log onto www.UNCGSpartans.com.
# # UNCG # #
UNC Greensboro 12, UAlbany 4 (Mar 26, 2008 at Greensboro, NC)
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UAlbany............. 020 010 001 - 4 9 1 (4-16-1)
UNC Greensboro...... 001 531 20X - 12 16 4 (17-5)
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Pitchers: UAlbany - Noble, D.; Novak, N.(4); Ott, C.(5); Rivera, M.(7); Moffatt, H.(7).
UNC Greensboro - Alex Shelton; Blake Hassebrock(5); Kory Judd(8); James White(9).
Win-Alex Shelton(3-1)
Loss-Dave Nobel.(1-2)
HR UNCG - Ricky Orton 2 (9).
