GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG blew a six-run lead in the top of the ninth, but came back to score two runs in the home half of the inning to complete the sweep of The Citadel with a walk-off 12-11 victory on Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. The win was the 12th for UNCG in its last 13 games.
After the Bulldogs (20-32, 8-19 Southern Conference) put up seven runs in the top of the ninth to take an 11-10 lead, Drew Gehringer slapped a single through the right side of the infield to lead off the bottom half of the inning. Eric Brindle then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Gehringer to second and Cody Walker followed with a single to right field to score Gehringer and tie the game at 11.
Ray Crawford then singled through the left side before Andrew Spleth drew a walk to load the bases. John Hein then came in to pinch hit and was hit by a pitch on a 2-1 count to score Walker and give the Spartans the 12-11 victory.
Prior to the game, Chris Barker, Gehringer, Colby Hyatt, Ray Quinones, Warren Slack, Greg Smith and Walker were honored for Senior Day.
Going into the ninth inning, it appeared as if the Spartans would cruise to any easy win as they led 10-4. The Citadel had different thoughts, though, as William Ladd was hit by a pitch and moved to second when Justin Mackert reached on a fielding error. Alex Simonelli then walked to load the bases before a wild pitch allowed Ladd to score from third.
Brad Felder kept things going with a two-run single up the middle to cut UNCG's lead down to 10-7. After a groundout, Grant Richards drew a walk and Joe Jackson followed with a single through the right side to score Felder and make it a two-run game.
A single by DeKerlegand loaded the bases and then Nick Orvin hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to make UNCG's lead just 10-9. Ladd then came back up and singled up the middle on a 2-1 pitch to give the Bulldogs an 11-10 lead.
Smith (3-3) recorded the win for UNCG (31-18, 19-8 SoCon) after striking out the only batter he faced in the top of the ninth. TJ Clarkson (1-3) was credited with the loss after allowing two runs on three hits in just a third of an inning of work.
Walker led UNCG on Senior Day as he went 3-5 with three RBI and two runs scored and Quinones also went 3-4 with two RBI and three runs scored. Crawford added three hits and Gehringer and Brindle each added two hits and scored two runs.
Felder went 2-4 with three RBI and a run scored for The Citadel and Ladd added two hits and had two RBI and two runs scored.
The Spartans started off the game with four runs in the bottom of the first to take the early lead. Gehringer, Brindle and Crawford each had RBI singles in the inning and Walker added an RBI double of his own.
The score would stay that way until the top of the fourth when The Citadel answered with three runs to make it a one-run game. Mackert had an RBI single and Simonelli added a sacrifice fly before an RBI triple from Felder cut UNCG's lead down to 4-3.
The Spartans would answer with a sacrifice fly by Spleth in the home half of the fourth to make it 5-3 and added three more runs in the fifth inning to make it 8-3.
UNCG would stretch its lead to 10-3 in the sixth when Quinones hit a two-run home run to left field.
The Spartans will wrap up the regular season next weekend as they travel to Wofford for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 7 p.m.
AGATE
UNCG 12, The Citadel 11
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The Citadel......... 000 300 017 - 11 10 4 (20-32, 8-19)
UNCG................ 400 132 002 - 12 17 1 (31-18, 19-8)
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Pitchers: The Citadel - Austin Pritcher; Bryce Hines(6); Ryan Hines(8); TJ Clarkson(9); Jeremy Long(9) and Grant Richards. UNCG - Colby Hyatt; Zach Furl(8); Tyler Hollstegge(9); Jonathan Jones(9); Jarett Miller(9); Greg Smith(9) and Trevor Edwards; Zach Leach.
Win-Greg Smith(3-3) Loss-TJ Clarkson(1-3) T-2:47 A-257
HR UNCG - Ray Quinones.
Weather: 73 and partly cloudy
Hollstegge faced 3 batters in the 9th.
Long faced 2 batters in the 9th.
- UNCG -
