GREENSBORO, NC Senior Pedro Leon delivered a walk-off double off the left field wall in the bottom of the ninth to score Alex Frederick from second as UNC Greensboro defeated Princeton, 6-5, on Friday evening at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Frederick led off the ninth inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brent O'Berry. With one out in the inning, Leon stepped to the plate and took a 0-1 pitch deep to left center that just missed leaving the yard by a few feet to knock in the winning run.
The Spartans (1-4) were led by their 3-6 hitters of Ray Quinones, Trevor Edwards, Drew Gehringer and Ed Jayjack, who combined to go 6-14 on the night with four RBI and four runs scored. Sophomore Greg Smith picked up the win for UNCG after pitching 2 1/3 innings of relief and only allowing one hit.
Matt Grabowski took the loss for the Tigers (0-1) after just pitching 1 1/3 innings in the season opener for the Tigers.
UNCG found itself in an early 2-0 hole after the top of the first inning, thanks to a Jack Murphy two-run home run. After back-to-back singles by the Tigers to lead off the game, Greg Martin got Greg Van Horn to ground into a double play. Just when it looked like Martin would get out of the inning, Murphy hit a home run to left center to give the visitors a quick 2-0 lead.
The Spartans would not go down without a fight as they quickly responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the first. After Leon flew out to center field to lead off the inning, Corey Overholtzer advanced on an error to reach base. Overholtzer advanced to third on a Ray Quinones single to right center and scored on a balk by pitcher Brad Gemberling. Trevor Edwards was up next and reached base on a walk, but Quinones was thrown out on the play by the catcher after taking too large of a lead. Edwards moved to second on a single by Drew Gehringer and both runners scored on an Ed Jayjack triple to the right center gap to give UNCG a 3-2 advantage.
Martin was able to settle down in the second inning as he struck out the side for three of his five strike outs on the evening.
After striking out the first two batters in the fifth inning, Martin ran into some trouble. Derek Beckman hit a single that went off the third base bag to reach first. He advanced to third after Dan DeGeorge hit a double down the left field line and both runners scored on Van Horn's double down the left field line.
The Spartans immediately responded again in the bottom half of the inning after freshman Trevor Edwards hit his first career home run. With two outs, Quinones singled through the left side of the infield before Edwards hit a blast out to right center to regain the lead 5-4.
The Tigers were able to mount a response themselves in the top of the sixth inning to knot the game at 5. David Hale singled to center field with one out and advanced to second on a passed ball. After Brian Berkowitz struck out, Jon Broscious doubled to deep center to score Hale from second and tie the game 5-5.
The game would stay tied until Leon's walk-off double in the ninth inning to give UNCG the victory.
The Spartans will return to the field tomorrow afternoon as they take on Princeton at 1 p.m. at the UNCG Baseball Stadium in the second game of the three-game series.
AGATE
UNC Greensboro 6, Princeton 5
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Campbell.................200 021 000 - 5 11 1 (0-1)
UNC Greensboro...... 300 020 001 - 6 9 3 (1-4)
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Pitchers: UNC Greensboro Greg Martin, Matt Parish, Warren Slack, Greg Smith. Princeton Brad Gemberling, Dan Barnes, Matt Grabowski.
Win-Greg Smith (1-1) Loss-Matt Grabowski (0-1) T-2:48 A-147
HR: UNC Greensboro Trevor Edwards (1). Princeton Jack Murphy (1).
- UNCG -
