GREENSBORO, N.C. – Sophomore Cambric Moye hit his first home run of the season to highlight a three-run second inning that propelled UNCG to a 9-4 victory over Furman in Southern Conference action on Sunday afternoon at UNCG Baseball Stadium.
For the third game in a row, Furman (15-14, 5-7 SoCon) would draw first blood and take a 1-0 lead after one and a half innings of play. Chris Ohmstede had the first of his career-high four hits, all singles, to get the things going for the Paladins. Two batters later, Hunter Burton launched an RBI triple to the deepest part of the park to score Ohmstede.
UNCG (15-12, 4-8 SoCon) would score early and often by scoring in four consecutive innings from the second inning to the fifth inning. In the second inning, Lloyd Enzor was hit by a pitch giving UNCG its first base runner on the day. Thomas Troelstrup would help UNCG maintain its national lead as he laid down the team's 50th sacrifice bunt on the year to advance Enzor to second, setting the table for senior Kris Richards. Richards delivered with an RBI double to right center to tie the game at 1.
Goldsboro, N.C., native Moye blasted the first pitch he saw from the Paladins' Ben Carlson (1-4) out of the ballpark to give UNCG a lead it'd never relinquish, 3-1, after two innings of play.
In the top of the fourth, Paul Nitto led the inning off with a double, Ohmstede followed up with a single and Heath Burton walked to load the bases with no outs. UNCG starter Tyler Hollstegge (3-2) buckled down and struck out the next batter before inducing an inning-ending double play to escape unscathed.
Troelstrup followed the lead of his teammate Richards by scoring Trevor Edwards thanks an RBI double of his own in the third inning. Moye hit a run-scoring double in the fourth to collect his third RBI of the day and to give UNCG a 5-1 lead after four innings.
The Spartans would continue to distance themselves as freshman Nick Chapman hit a two-run single to right field bringing the score to 7-1 in UNCG's favor after five innings.
However, the Paladins would not go down quietly as they loaded up the bases again in the sixth inning with one out. Will Owens scorched a ball down the third base line, but Troelstrup made a beautiful back-handed grab to retire Owens as Ohmstede would cross the plate to cut the deficit to five, 7-2.
Furman would strike for two more runs in the seventh inning as Nitto hit a sacrifice fly and collected his 11th RBI of the series. Ohmstede blooped an RBI single to center field to bring the score to 7-4.
The duo of Troelstrup and Chapman struck again in the bottom of the eighth as both Spartans chipped in an RBI to give UNCG some breathing room, 9-4, after eight innings.
Furman made it interesting by loading the bases once again in the ninth, but thanks to another defensive gem by Troelstrup and timely pitching from Lee Gilliam, the Paladins were unable to score.
Hollstegge collected his third win on the season by going a season-high 6 2/3 innings while allowing four runs on 11 hits. Gilliam gathered his first save of the year by throwing 41 pitches in 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball.
Furman's Carlson took the loss as UNCG touched him up for four runs on four hits in only three innings of work.
With the win, UNCG avoided being swept for the first time since May 2010 when Furman completed the feat.
Zach Leach enjoyed his fifth multi-hit game in the last eight games.
Furman stranded 14 runners and used eight pitchers on the day while UNCG left 11 on base and used only two pitchers.
UNCG returns to action on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. bout at Wake Forest.
AGATE
UNCG 9, Furman 4 (Apr 01, 2012 at Greensboro, N.C.)
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Furman.............. 010 001 200 - 4 12 2 (15-14, 5-7)
UNCG................ 031 120 02X - 9 11 1 (15-12, 4-8)
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Pitchers: Furman - Ben Carlson; Brant Masters(4); Kevin Gottlieb(5); Mike Waller(5);
Alex Abrams(6); Matt Solter(7); Stephen Gary(8); Jacques de Gruy(8) and Paul Nitto. UNCG -
Tyler Hollstegge; Lee Gilliam(7) and Cambric Moye.
Win-Tyler Hollstegge(3-2) Save-Lee Gilliam(1) Loss-Ben Carlson(1-4) T-3:07 A-343
HR UNCG - Cambric Moye.
Weather: 63 degrees and sunny
Gottlieb faced 1 batter in the 5th.
Solter faced 1 batter in the 8th.
- UNCG -
