GREENSBORO, N.C. - Chris Barker delivered a two-out solo home run over the right field wall in the bottom of the eighth and UNC Greensboro got seven solid innings from starter Blake Hassebrock as the Spartans defeated Princeton, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Reliever Greg Smith came in to pitch the final two innings for the Spartans (8-4) to pick up his third win of the season. Hassebrock delivered seven strong innings for UNCG after allowing just one run on three hits and striking out five. Tiger reliever Ryan Makis was credited with the loss after allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits in two innings of work.
Barker led UNCG at the plate on Saturday after going 2-4 along with his solo homer. Drew Gehringer also went 1-3 for the Spartans with the only other RBI.
Josh Mishu had an RBI and a run scored for the Tigers (0-5) after going 2-4 on the afternoon. Leadoff hitter Matt Bowman also went 2-4 for the visitors.
After the Tigers knotted the game at two in the top of the eighth, Makis retired the first two Spartan batters in the bottom half of the inning. Barker stepped up to the plate next and took a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right field for his first career home run as a Spartan.
The game began as a pitcher's duel as Hassebrock and Princeton starter Dan Barnes went toe-to-toe for the first few innings. Unfortunately for Barnes and the Tigers, Barnes was hit in the foot on a line drive by Barker in the bottom of the third and was forced to leave the game in the fourth inning due to the injury. That hit was the first of the day for the Spartans.
On the other end, Hassebrock was equally up to the task as he carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning for the Spartans. In the top of the fifth, Mishu hit a two-out solo home run to right center to break up Hassebrock's no-hitter and give Princeton a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans immediately responded in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at one apiece. With one out, Kris Richards hit a single up the middle and advanced to second on a groundout. Gehringer followed with another single up the middle to score Richards from second and make it a 1-1 game.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth when the Spartans received a little good fortune from the Tigers. After Makis set down the first two Spartan batters, Corey Overholtzer singled to center field. After stealing second, Overholtzer advanced to third on a wild pitch. As the Tiger catcher threw down to third to try to catch Overholtzer, his throw went into left field, which allowed Overholtzer to score and put the Spartans ahead, 2-1.
After Smith came in relief of Hassebrock in the eighth, leadoff batter Matt Connor reached on a throwing error by UNCG. Smith got the next batter to strikeout, but Connor was able to advance to third on a single by Bowman. Connor came around to score a batter later as Andrew Whitener delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game at two.
The Spartans and Tigers will meet for game two of the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
AGATE
UNC Greensboro 3, Princeton 2
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Princeton........... 000 010 010 - 2 6 2 (0-5)
UNC Greensboro...... 000 010 11X - 3 7 1 (8-4)
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Pitchers: Princeton - Barnes, Dan; Link, Kevin(4); Makis, Ryan(7) and Mulroy, Sam. UNC Greensboro - Blake Hassebrock; Greg Smith(8) and Ed Jayjack.
Win-Greg Smith(3-0) Loss-Makis, Ryan(0-1) T-2:16 A-173
HR PRIN - Mishu, John.
HR UNCG - Chris Barker.
Weather: 62 and partly cloudy
- UNCG -
