GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG fought back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game in the seventh inning, but Eastern Kentucky got an RBI single from Jacob Daniel in the top of the 10th as the Spartans fell, 6-5, on Tuesday evening at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
With the two sides deadlocked at 5 after nine innings, A.J. Jamison led off the 10th inning with a double down the first base line. After a fly out and ground out, Daniel took the first pitch he saw into shallow center field to easily score Jamison and give the Colonels a 6-5 lead.
Anthony Bazzini came in for Eastern Kentucky (4-8) and retired UNCG in order in the bottom of the 10th to pick up his second save of the season. Matt Fyffe (3-0) was credited with the win after pitching 2 2/3 innings and allowing just one hit, while striking out three.
Eastern Kentucky was first on the board as Justin Trent led off the third inning with a double to left field. After a sacrifice bunt moved him to third, Jamison hit a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Colonels the early 1-0 lead.
UNCG (9-3) answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 1 apiece. Nick Chapman started things with a single through the right side and moved over to second on a sac bunt by Christian Wolfe. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Chapman came home when Zach Leach hit a grounder to the shortstop.
Richie Rodriguez led off the top of the fourth for Eastern Kentucky with his seventh home run of the season as part of a four-run fourth inning. Trent added an RBI single later in the inning and Steve Ferraro had a two-run double to make it a 5-1 game.
Lloyd Enzor began his impressive day in the fourth inning as he led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run to left center to make it a 5-2 contest.
An inning later, Enzor was back at the plate, this time with a man on third, and hit a towering home run to left field to pull UNCG within 5-4.
In the seventh inning, it was Enzor once again who provided the timely hit for UNCG. Leach led off with a walk and Thomas Troelstrup followed with a walk two batters later. Enzor then slapped an opposite field single to score Leach and tie the game at 5-5.
The Spartans will kick off SoCon action on Friday as they host Samford at 6 p.m.
AGATE
Eastern Kentucky 6, UNCG 5
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Eastern Kentucky.... 001 400 000 1 - 6 11 1 (4-8)
UNCG................ 001 120 100 0 - 5 9 1 (9-3)
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Pitchers: Eastern Kentucky - CREAMER, Cody; COBB, Brent(4); GREENE, Chase(6); FYFFE, Matt(7); BAZZANI, Anthony(10) and FERRARO, Steve; HAGEN, Sean. UNCG - Adam Boghosian; Wes McBride(4); Jonathan Jones(4); Lee Gilliam(5); Zach Furl(8); Brennen James(9); Dominique Vattuone(10) and Cambric Moye; Trevor Edwards.
Win-FYFFE, Matt(3-0) Save-BAZZANI, Anthony(2) Loss-Dominique Vattuone(1-1) T-3:33 A-161
HR EKU - RODRIGUEZ, Richie.
HR UNCG - Lloyd Enzor 2.
Weather: 65 and sunny
Boghosian faced 2 batters in the 4th.
- UNCG -
