GREENSBORO, NC UNC Greensboro scored five early runs and broke the game open in the eighth inning with six run as the Spartans defeated Duke, 13-4, on Wednesday evening at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Five UNCG pitchers combined to allow just four runs and eight hits and reliever Greg Smith was credited with the win after allowing just two hits in 2 1/3 innings of work. Corey Overholtzer went 3-5 with four RBI and three runs scored to lead the Spartans (9-17) at the plate.
Duke starter Trevor Cesar picked up the loss for the Blue Devils (22-12) after allowing five runs in just 1 1/3 innings of work.
The Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead in the top half of the first inning to go ahead 1-0. With one out in the inning, Matt Williams singled to left field before moving to second on a ground out. Jeremy Gould followed with a single through the left side to score Williams from second and give Duke the early lead.
The Spartans took advantage of Cesar's early control issues and responded in the bottom of the first with two runs. Michael Wall drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a single by Overholtzer. Overholtzer moved over to second on a wild pitch before a line out retired the first Spartan. Ed Jayjack followed with a single through the right side to score Wall from third and move Overholtzer to third. Overholtzer would later score on a Ray Quinones sacrifice fly.
UNCG continued to jump on Cesar by scoring three more runs in the second inning. Brent O'Berry walked to begin the inning before Kris Richards moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Wall was then hit by a pitch and Overholtzer followed with a triple to the center field wall to score O'Berry and Wall. Pedro Leon followed with a double to left field to plate Overholtzer and give the Spartans a 5-1 lead.
Duke began to chip away at the Spartan lead in the fifth inning to narrow the UNCG lead to 5-3. With one out in the inning, Ryan McCurdy singled to center and scored on Alex Hassan's double to left center. Williams followed with a double of his own to score Hassan and make the score 5-3.
The Blue Devils made it 5-4 in the sixth inning when Will Piwnica-Worms scored on a sacrifice fly by Dennis O'Grady.
The Spartans responded in the bottom of the sixth with two more runs to extend their lead to 7-4. With one down, O'Berry, Richards and Wall drew back-to-back-to-back walks to load the bases. Overholtzer hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score O'Berry to give UNCG a 6-4 lead. After Leon reached on an error to load the bases again, Richards would score from third on a wild pitch to make the score 7-4.
With UNCG clinging to a three-run lead, the Spartans blew the game open in the eighth inning with six runs. The Spartans drew four walks in the inning and had four singles as 10 UNCG batters came to the plate in the inning.
The Spartans return to action Thursday evening as they kick off a three-game series with SoCon opponent Wofford. The two teams will play at 7 p.m. on Thursday, 7 p.m. on Friday and will wrap up the series on Saturday at 3 p.m.
AGATE
UNC Greensboro 13, Duke 4
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Duke....................... 100 021 000 4 8 1 (22-12)
UNC Greensboro...... 230 002 06X - 13 9 0 (9-17)
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Pitchers: UNC Greensboro Matt Parish, Warren Slack, Zach Furl, Greg Smith, Rob Gilliam. Duke Trevor Cesar, Will Currier, Michael Ness, Ben Grisz, Jonathan Foreman, Tim Sherlock.
Win- Greg Smith (3-4) Loss- Trevor Cesar (2-2) T-2:53 A-348
- UNCG
