CHARLESTON, SC Senior Greg Feltes hit his second grand slam of the tournament in the seventh to help push UNC Greensboro past Georgia Southern, 12-9, in Game 10 of the 2008 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament. The slam over the left field scoreboard was not only Feltes' second of the tournament, but his second of the season and the third of his career.

The Spartans (33-26) put up a seven spot in the seventh to break the second tie with the Eagles (33-25) of the evening. Senior Tim Carrier made it 6-5 with a lead off home run out to left field. After the bases loaded up, senior Matt Gaski hit his second two-run single of the evening to give UNCG the 8-5 advantage. A walk to the next batter loaded the bases once again for Feltes to send away the four-run homer. This is the second consecutive day of the tournament that both Carrier and Feltes have hit home runs.

Freshman reliever Greg Smith (5-1) was credited with the victory after coming in for senior starter Wes McCall in the sixth inning. In his 2.1 innings of work, Smith retired three batters and gave up just four hits. Georgia Southern's Aaron Eubanks was branded with the loss after giving up two runs off of five hits in his three innings on the rubber.

“We have had an awful tough time with Georgia Southern because they have such a great offensive attack,” commented head coach Mike Gaski. “I have great praise for Wes McCall. He put us in a position to stay in the game. Offensively, we did some great things and a lot of guys had some eight or nine pitch at-bats and that had a lot to do with our success.”

At the plate, Feltes was 2-for-5 with six RBI and a grand slam, Gaski finished the evening 3-for-4 with four RBI and a pair of runs, and  Adam Deleo was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs, an RBI, and a home run. GSU's Ty Wright hit 3-for-6 with a pair of RBI, two runs scored, and a home run.

When asked about what the team was thinking heading into their firth game of the season against Georgia Southern, Feltes said that they knew GSU was going to put up runs and that the Spartans had to do the same. “We did not want this to be our last game and we went up there trying to not give up at bats. The SoCon is really a hitting conference but you have to get to a club's bullpen by getting deep into the counts. We are kind of familiar with their pitching and we took advantage of it.”

With the win, the Spartans advanced to the fourth round where they will now face the undefeated Phoenix of Elon. Game time is slated for 1pm on Saturday.

A pair of singles in the opening inning gave the Eagles a three-run lead. After a double by David Richardson put runners on second and third, Chris Shehan dropped a single into centerfield to bring around both. Shehan was then plated on a centerfield single by Jeremiah Parker.

The Spartans pulled within one in the home half of the third as senior Greg Feltes hammered a two-run single into left field. The Rocky River, OH native got a bases loaded setup off of a walk to Sean Snell, a right side single by Matt Gaski, and another walk to Ricky Orton. With a full count on, Feltes turned the ball into left field to bring around seniors Snell and Gaski.

Two bats later, UNCG took a 5-3 lead on a single by Gaski. After a walk to freshman Ray Quinones and a left field double by Snell, Gaski laced the ball between the gloves of the first a second basemen to bring in both runners and take the two-run lead.

GSU threatened in the fifth with runners on first and second, but were shut down with a 4-6-3 turn. UNCG's 58th double play of the season.

The Eagles chipped the lead down by one in the sixth on a sacrifice fly. With the bases loaded, Griffin Benedict tagged up on a fly out to centerfield by Brian Pierce to put the game at 5-4 UNCG. In the next inning, Georgia Southern tied the game at 5-5 as Ty Wright lifted a lead off solo over the left field wall.

A lead off solo in the seventh by senior Tim Carrier broke the 5-5 tie and put the lead in the Spartan's hands once again. It was his seventh homer of the season and his second of the tournament. In Thursday's game against Wofford, Carrier hit home run No. 62 for the UNCG to set a new season record.

Another two-run single by Gaski pushed the Spartans to a 8-5 advantage. With the bases loaded, the Greensboro, NC native lifted the ball over the second baseman and into right center to drive in sophomore Corey Overholtzer and Deleo. A walk to Orton in the next at-bat set the table for senior Greg Feltes to send a towering grand slam over the scoreboard in left field and give the Spartans the 12-5 lead. The slam was Feltes' second of the season, second of the tournament, and the third overall for UNCG.

Georgia Southern posted two more in the eighth to bring the score to 12-8. A.J. Wirnsberger was plated on a left field single by Wright and Will Southwell scored on a fielder's choice to second base by David Richardson.

A groundout and a Jeremy Beckham single in the ninth pulled GSU within two of the Spartans but the Eagles were shutdown by two groundouts to second and a fly ball to left field.

For more news on UNCG baseball, ticket prices, a complete season schedule, and all other Spartan athletic information log onto www.UNCGSpartans.com

# # UNCG #

UNC Greensboro 12, Georgia Southern 9 (May 23, 2008 at Charleston, S.C.)

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Georgia Southern..... 300 001 122  -  9 14  0      (33-25)

UNC Greensboro...... 002 300 70X  - 12 15  1      (33-26)

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Pitchers: Georgia Southern - Andy Moye; Aaron Eubanks(4); Tony Chisman(7); Burt Barto(7); Trent Franzago(8).

UNC Greensboro - Wes McCall; Greg Smith(6); James White(8).

Win-Greg Smith(5-1) 

Loss-Aaron Eubanks(6-2)

HR GSU - Ty Wright (17).

HR UNCG - Greg Feltes (15); Tim Carrier (6); Adam Deleo (2).

McCall faced 3 batters in the 6th.