GREENSBORO, N.C. – Trailing 1-0 and being no-hit in the bottom of the sixth, UNCG's offense caught fire as it sent nine batters to the plate and hung a four-spot on the scoreboard on its way to a 4-1 victory over Presbyterian in nonconference action at UNCG Baseball Stadium on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.
Presbyterian's Beau Dees and UNCG's Corey Taylor pitched lights out baseball through the first four innings as both pitchers carried no-hitters into the fifth inning.
Presbyterian (13-20) would draw first blood in the top of the fifth inning. Blue Hose Kenny Bryant smacked a double to left center for the first hit of the game for either team to lead off the frame. Teammate Robby Swab followed his lead by ripping an RBI double down the right field line to give the Blue Hose the 1-0 advantage. However, Taylor buckled down and retired the next three batters to leave Swab stranded at second.
Dees didn't allow a hit until the bottom of the sixth inning, but when he did, they came en masse. UNCG (17-13) strung together five consecutive hits, four of them for extra bases.
Zach Leach continued to wear out the baseball as he smoked a triple down the right field line to start the rally. Trevor Edwards ripped a 3-1 pitch to right for an RBI double to knot the score up at 1. The Spartans' Thomas Troelstrup followed up with an RBI double of his own to make it a 2-1 ball game in UNCG's favor. The crucial blow came off the bat of Kris Richards, as the Garner, N.C., native delivered a two-run double to extend the Spartan lead to three, 4-1. Dees would stop the bleeding by getting two fly outs with a walk sandwiched in between to end the threat.
Dylan Hathcock shut down the Blue Hose offense by scattering three hits in three innings of relief to collect his second save on the year.
Taylor (3-2) picked up the win for UNCG as he dominated through six innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out four.
Dees (1-5) took the loss for Presbyterian as he surrendered four runs on five hits through six innings on 101 pitches.
Swab paced the Blue Hose offense with two hits while Edwards led UNCG with two hits.
The series victory was UNCG's first since sweeping Penn State, Feb. 24-26.
UNCG returns to the diamond when it travels to Durham, N.C., to play Duke at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
AGATE
UNCG 4, Presbyterian 1 (Apr 07, 2012 at Greensboro, N.C.)
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Presbyterian........ 000 010 000 - 1 6 1 (13-20)
UNCG................ 000 004 00X - 4 6 0 (17-13)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian - DEES, Beau; WHITE, Chad(7) and ZEBEDIS, Brad. UNCG - Corey Taylor;
Dylan Hathcock(7) and Cambric Moye.
Win-Corey Taylor(3-2) Save-Dylan Hathcock(2) Loss-DEES, Beau(1-5) T-2:24 A-305
Weather: 58 degrees and beautiful
- UNCG -
