GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG baseball team will head downtown Tuesday for its annual contest with crosstown rival North Carolina A&T at NewBridge Bank Park. Admission is free but fans will need a ticket for entry.
Live stats and a full HD video stream (SoCon Digital Network) are available for fans unable to attend the game.
The Spartans and Aggies were supposed to play in the minor league park last season but the game was moved to the UNCG Baseball Stadium due to inclement weather. The last time the two teams played downtown, UNCG came away with a 10-4 victory thanks in large part to a grand slam by then redshirt sophomore Zac MacAneney.
The Spartans are coming off a big home series win over Southern Conference preseason favorite Western Carolina. UNCG won the first game 17-2, dropped a 17-5 decision Saturday and clinched the set by a 7-4 score Sunday. The Aggies enter the contest with a 3-16 record and lost two of three in a conference series against Savannah State. With the series victory over Western Carolina, the Spartans improved to 9-12 overall.
UNCG has four players batting .304 or better with a fifth, junior Collin Woody, just behind at .299. Collectively, the Spartans are hitting .274 with a .436 slugging mark and .373 on base percentage. The UNCG pitching staff sports a 6.27 earned run average with opponents batting .301 in 21 contests.
The Blue and Gold leads the series by a wide margin at 40-6 and has emerged victorious in the last six meetings.
LAST MEETING : Every batter in the UNCG lineup recorded a hit as the Spartans swept the season series from North Carolina A&T with a 13-8 victory at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. The triumph was the seventh straight for the Blue and Gold over its crosstown rival and upped UNCG's advantage in the all-time series to 40-6. A total of seven UNCG batters notched multi-hit efforts during the evening. The Spartans committed four errors in the game, three on Aggie stolen base attempts, while North Carolina A&T committed two defensive miscues. Redshirt junior Zac MacAneney and sophomore Jake Hall led the way with three hits apiece as MacAneney also chipped in with two RBI and Hall scored a team-high three runs. Junior L.J. Kalawaia extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a 2-for-3 performance while also crossing the plate twice. Additionally, junior Hunter King was 2-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored. Junior Brennen James picked up his first win and decision of the season, throwing 1.1 innings and allowing just one unearned run on one hit with no walks and two strikeouts. Justin Godette was charged with the loss for A&T and dropped to 0-4 on the year. He gave up nine runs (all earned) on 12 hits with two walks and no strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.
BITS AND PIECES : UNCG handed Western Carolina just its third series loss in Southern Conference action in three seasons ... The Blue and Gold is 7-2 when compiling double figures in the hit column ... The Spartans are more than halfway to matching their home run total from last season (25), hitting 19 so far this campaign ... 10 different players have a home run to their credit this season with Wright leading the way with four bombs ... MacAneney has a current team-long 11-game hitting streak ... In nine home games this season, the Spartans are 7-2 and are hitting .332 with a slugging mark of .586 and 14 home runs. ... The Spartan pitching staff has struck out 10 or more batters in six games.
Keep up with the UNCG baseball team all season by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @UNCGBaseball/@uncgsports.
