GREENSBORO, N.C. – After winning three of four against Princeton at home over the weekend, the UNCG baseball team kicks of a five-game road trip Wednesday afternoon with a rematch with East Carolina at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, N.C. The game has been moved up to 3 p.m. due to the threat of inclement weather in the eastern part of the state.
The Spartans enter the contest with a 5-8 overall record, snapping a five-game skid with the series-opening victory over the Tigers. The bats heated up for UNCG over the weekend as the Spartans hit .346 collectively with 43 runs scored, 44 hits, 10 doubles, four triples and seven home runs.
Junior RHP Ryan Clark continued his strong start to the season with his second win, striking out 10 batters over six innings in Saturday's 12-3 victory while senior outfielder Zac MacAneney earned Southern Conference Hitter of the Week accolades - batting .444 in the four contests with eight hits, six runs scored, two doubles, one triple, three home runs, a slugging percentage of 1.167 and a .500 on base mark. With the series victory, UNCG upped its all-time series lead over Princeton to 18-4 and improved to 4-1 at home in 2015.
East Carolina is 9-5 overall and has won nine of 11 since suffering a season-opening sweep at the hands of then No. 3 Virginia. The Pirates are coming off their second-straight home series sweep defeating Monmouth 2-0, 9-0 and 3-2 over the weekend.
Luke Lowery has missed the last five games with an injury but still leads the club with a .448 (13-for-29) average. He earned his second-straight American Athletic Conference Honor Roll nod following the Pirates' weekend sweep of Albany where batted .600 (6-for-10) with a home run, six RBI and reached base nine times, including all six times in ECU's 14-3 win over the Great Danes.
UNCG leads the all-time series with East Carolina 8-7 and has split the last two meetings at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Spartans defeated the Pirates 6-5 March 11 of the 2014 campaign in Greenville after falling to ECU in extra innings just a week earlier at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
LAST MEETING : East Carolina scored five runs in the middle innings to defeat the UNCG baseball team 8-3 in the first contest of the Keith LeClair Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium. Clark was saddled with the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts in five innings pitched. Evan Kruczynski picked up the victory for ECU, giving up just one run on five hits over six innings pitched. He struck out seven against just one walk. Freshman infielder Tripp Shelton notched the first two hits of his collegiate career, including a two-run home run, to lead the Spartan offense. MacAneney also recorded two base knocks while senior designated hitter Aaron Wright added a RBI. Additionally, senior infielder Hunter King extended his reached base safely streak to 35 games dating back to last season. Bryce Harman and Travis Watkins went 3-for-4 to pace the Pirates.
BITS AND PIECES: After putting together double-digit hits in just two of its first nine contests, UNCG has turned the trick in four of its last five outings ... The Spartans are nearly halfway to matching their home run total from last season (25), hitting 11 so far this campaign ... Woody and MacAneney enter this week with six-game hitting streaks while Woody has reached base safely in eight-straight contests ... UNCG has three players who have hit in the same spot in the lineup for all 13 games - MacAneney (leadoff), Long (second) and Shelton (ninth) ... In five home games this season, the Spartans are hitting .341 with a slugging mark of .634. UNCG is also perfect defensively with no errors in those contests ... The Spartan pitching staff has struck out 10 or more batters in four games, including three of the last five.
Follow the UNCG baseball team all season by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and monitoring the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @UNCGBaseball/@uncgsports.
