CHARLESTON, SC UNCG was only able to muster three hits as the Spartans dropped their SoCon opener, 8-0, to the College of Charleston on Friday evening at Patriots Point Stadium.

College of Charleston starter Jesse Simpson pitched seven scoreless innings for the Cougars (7-2) to pick up the win.

Ray Quinones went 2-4 at the plate to lead the Spartans (1-6) on the night. Greg Martin picked up the loss after allowing seven runs, although only three were earned.

Leadoff batter Clay McCord reached second in bottom of the first on an error for the Cougars. He moved to third on a fly ball to center before scoring on a Ryan Daniels single to give the home side an early 1-0 lead.

Matt Mansilla reached base to leadoff the second inning on another Spartan error. He moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt by Martin. He made the score 2-0 after a sacrifice fly to left field by Austin Morgan.  McCord followed that with a single down the left field line before scoring on a Joey Bergman triple to deep left center field.

Joash Brodin made the score 4-0 in the bottom of the third after hitting a triple to right center.  He scored after Mike Hentz reached on an error.

Martin was able to settle down in the fourth inning before giving up three more runs in the fifth inning.  Brandon Sizemore led off the inning with a solo home run that just barely cleared the wall down the left field line.  After allowing a Ryan Daniels single, Martin struck out the next two batters.  After almost getting out of the inning, Mansilla came to the plate and hit a two-run home run over the right field wall to push the score to 7-0 in favor of the Cougars.

The Cougars scored one final run in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 8-0.

The Spartans and the Cougars will meet on Saturday for game two of the three-game series.  First pitch it scheduled for 1 p.m. at Patriots Point Stadium.

AGATE

College of Charleston 8, UNC Greensboro 0

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UNC Greensboro...... 000 000 000  -  0  3  4      (1-6)

Duke.......................121 030 01X -  8  8  0      (7-2)

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Pitchers: UNC Greensboro Greg Martin, Blake Hassebrock, Warren Slack. CofC Jesse Simpson, Curtis Dowling, Evan Goldberg.

Win- Jesse Simpson (2-1) Loss- Greg Martin (0-2)  T-2:19  A-105

HR: CofC Brandon Sizemore (4), Matt Mansilla (3).

- UNCG -