Baseball 3/29/2008 8:00:00 PM UNCGSpartans.com

Home runs by Carrier, Leon send UNCG past WCU, 7-3

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, NC After falling to Western Carolina, 17-2, on Friday night, UNC Greensboro rebounded with a 7-3 victory over the Catamounts, Saturday afternoon in Cullowhee, NC. The win put a halt on WCU's three-game win streak and gave UNCG their fourth Southern Conference win of the season.

Trailing 1-0, the Spartans tabbed a four-run rally in the fourth, which included a two-run home run by second baseman Tim Carrier. A two-run shot in the fifth by right fielder Pedro Leon upped the UNCG lead to 6-2. The Catamounts tacked on two more to shave the lead, but another run scored in the ninth gave UNCG the 7-3 victory and put the weekend series at 1-1.

UNCG is now 18-6 on the season with a 4-1 conference mark. Western Carolina drops to 9-15 overall with a league record of 1-4.

The first run of the game came off of a sacrifice fly to left center by the Western. In the following inning, UNCG rallied for four-runs starting with a two-run single up the middle by third baseman Ray Quinones to score Leon and catcher Sean Snell. In the next at-bat, Carrier got a hold the first pitch and sent it over the leftfield wall to score Quinones ahead of him and give UNCG the 4-1 lead. This was Carrier's second home run of the season.

In the next inning, Leon crushed one over the leftfield fence to plate first baseman Ricky Orton and give the Spartans the 6-1 advantage. A bases loaded walk in favor of the Catamounts in the bottom half of the inning cut the Spartan lead down by one.

WCU edged even closer to UNCG in the eighth inning with an RBI single by Brent Greer. A chance to put the game even closer was cut short by UNCG shortstop Matt Gaski. With runners on the corners and the tying run holding the bat, Gaski made a diving catch in the hole and with a throw from his knees, he beat the runner and preserved the Spartan lead.

The Spartans notched one more in the ninth to take game two, 7-3.

The Spartan sticks were led by Pedro Leon who was 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, one walk, and one home run. Tim Carrier was 2-for-5 with two RBI, one run, and one home run. Western Carolina's Nick Liles was 3-for-4 with four stolen bases and one run.

Matt Gibbs (3-0) nabbed the win on the mound after 4.2 innings of work with four strikeouts. The loss went to the Catamount's Tyler Sexton (0-4) who walked two and struck out two in four innings on the rubber.

The Spartans and the Catamounts will play their final game at 2pm Sunday afternoon at Ronnie G. Childress Field in Cullowhee, NC. On Tuesday, UNCG heads to Cary, NC to take on No. 3 North Carolina at the USA Baseball National Training Complex Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6pm.