JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – ETSU averted a sweep at the hands of the UNCG baseball team Sunday, scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to snatch a 5-3 victory at Thomas Stadium in the finale of a Southern Conference series. The Spartans had already clinched the set with wins Friday and Saturday.

UNCG remains tied with Samford, next weekend's opponent, for second place in the league standings with a 4-2 mark while dropping to 12-13 overall. The Bucs (12-14, 1-5) snap a seven-game losing streak and pick up their first league win of the campaign.

The Blue and Gold recorded 10 hits to ETSU's seven, but two costly errors ultimately proved the difference as only three of the Bucs' runs were earned.

Freshman RHP Michael Bates was impressive for the third-straight outing, tossing a career-high 5.2 innings and allowing just one earned run on five hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out one. Junior LHP Blair Betts (1-2) was tagged with the tough loss after surrendering just one run on a hit. He did strike out one. Dillon Cate (3-2) picked up the win as he threw the final two innings allowing a hit and striking out four.

Senior infielder Aaron Wright and sophomore Ryne Sigmon notched two hits apiece to lead the Spartans while Wright also scored a pair of runs. Senior outfielder Eric Kalbfleisch chipped in with two RBI. No batters in the ETSU lineup had more than one hit.

UNCG struck first in the top of the second. Wright led off with a ground rule double that bounced over the fence in left before sophomore catcher Jake Kusz flared a single to shallow left putting runners on the corners with no outs on the board. After a foul out, Sigmon singled up the middle and plated Wright to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. A groundout moved the runners to second and third but a flyout ended the half inning with no further runs. ETSU put a runner in scoring position with two down in the bottom of the frame but Woody made a great barehanded snag on a grounder to third and fired to first for the final out.

The Bucs tied the game in the bottom of the third as with two outs, Chris Cook sent a ball to right field that cleared the wall by an inch or two.

UNCG snatched the lead back in the top of the fifth as Kalbfleisch hit his second long ball of the season to make it a 2-1 game. Senior infielder Hunter King followed with a two-out triple to dead center but junior infielder Collin Woody flied out deep to right center to terminate the threat. The home team responded again in the bottom of the fifth, putting runners on the corners with no outs via two-straight singles and a hit and run. Robby McCabe then grounded into a double play but it allowed the tying run to score.

Kalbfleisch came through again with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the sixth as his sacrifice fly returned the upper hand back to the Blue and Gold at 3-2. Buc starter Griffin Krieg induced a groundout to escape further damage. More defensive trouble plagued the Blue and Gold in the bottom of the sixth as Cook reached on a throwing error. He would come around to score unearned with two outs thanks to a Hagen Owenby RBI single.

Kevin Phillips and Owenby provided the winning runs in the bottom of the eighth, tallying a RBI single each. They were the only hits in the frame for ETSU.

Senior outfielder Nick Chapman doubled with two outs in the top of the ninth, but a foul out ended the contest in the home team's favor.

UNCG returns to action next weekend, traveling to Birmingham for a three-game SoCon series with Samford at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The teams will play a doubleheader Friday beginning at 2 p.m. before wrapping up the set Saturday at 1 p.m.

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.