GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG opened up a 9-2 lead in the game and had to hold off St. John's ninth-inning rally as the Spartans defeated the Red Storm, 9-7, on Tuesday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Reliever Dylan Hatchcock picked up his first win of the season for the Spartans (7-5) after pitching two innings of relief and allowing no hits and striking out two batters.
Red Storm (5-5) starter Jake Woodward was credited with the loss after giving up four runs on five hits in just two innings of work.
Drew Gehringer continued to impress at the plate as he went 3-3 with three RBI and three runs scored to raise his average to .390. Ray Crawford also went 1-2 with an RBI and run scored, while Cole Harrison and John Hein each added a pair of hits.
St. John's was led by Joe Panik who went 3-4 with an RBI and run scored and Rowan Wick added a pair of RBI.
UNCG struck first in the game as it put up three runs in the bottom of the second. Thomas Troelstrup led off with a single and John Hein reached on a bunt single. Crawford advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt and then Gehringer delivered a double down the left field line to score both runners.
Gehringer would score a batter later as Chris Barker doubled down the right field line to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead.
After the Red Storm got one back in the top of the third, UNCG put up two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to stretch its lead to 5-1. Andrew Spleth and Troelstrup led off the inning with a pair of walks and then Hein had his second bunt single of the day to load the bases with no outs.
Crawford then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field that easily scored Spleth and Gehringer followed with a single to right field that scored Troelstrup to put the Spartans ahead by four.
St. John's manufactured a run in the top of the fourth after a pair of stolen bases led to a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.
UNCG struck for another pair of runs in the fifth inning to make it 7-2. With one out, Crawford was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a single by Gehringer. After a UNCG out, Harrison delivered a single to right field that was bobbled by the right fielder and allowed both runners to come home.
Crawford and Gehringer led another rally for the Spartans in the seventh inning. Crawford led off with a walk and Gehringer followed with a walk to put two runners on with no outs.
Cody Walker then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners and Crawford scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-2. Eric Brindle then delivered a single through the left side with two outs to score Gehringer and give the Spartans a comfortable seven-run lead.
It seemed things would stay that way until UNCG ran into trouble in the top of the ninth. The Red Storm had runners on first and second before back-to-back RBI singles make it an 8-4 game. After a UNCG pitching change, Jeremy Baltz hit a double to left field that scored another runner and put runners on second and third with just one out.
The Red Storm drew a walk to load the bases before Wick singled down the right field line that made the score 9-7 and put runners on the corners. The Spartans then induced an game-ending double play to hold on for the victory.
The Spartans open Southern Conference play this weekend as they host Western Carolina for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
AGATE
UNCG 9, St. John's 7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
St. John's.......... 001 100 005 - 7 10 1 (5-5)
UNCG................ 032 020 20X - 9 12 1 (7-5)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: St. John's - WOODWARD, Jake; VALCARCEL, Miguel(3); CERVONE, Anthony(5) and CASE, Robert; DANIEL, Josh. UNCG - Jonathan Jones; Greg Smith(4); Dylan Hathcock(6); Jarett Miller(8); Tyler Hollstegge(9); Zach Furl(9) and Trevor Edwards; Cambric Moye.
Win - Dylan Hathcock (1-0) Save-Zach Furl (2) Loss - WOODWARD, Jake (0-1) T-2:56 A-203
Weather: 52 and sunny
WOODWARD faced 1 batter in the 3rd.
- UNCG -
