Box Score GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior RHP Ryan Clark proved dominant before a national ESPN3 audience in UNCG's series opener with The Citadel Friday night, throwing a complete game shutout to lead the Spartans to a 5-0 victory at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Clark, who improved to 6-3 on the season, matched his career high of 10 strikeouts set earlier this year against Princeton while also tossing his second career complete game. At one point in the contest he retired 12-straight hitters.
The complete-game shutout was the first for a UNCG pitcher since current minor leaguer Max Povse blanked former Southern Conference rival College of Charleston 12-0 back on April 4, 2013. The Spartans now have three shutouts to their credit this season.
The Blue and Gold (16-17, 7-6) racked up nine hits to give Clark all the run support he would need. Sophomore catcher Jake Kusz was 3-for-3 at the dish with a run scored a two RBI. Senior outfielder Tyler Long also ended up with multiple hits going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Jonathan Stokes and Jacob Watcher had the Bulldogs' (16-19, 2-8) two hits.
James Reeves was tagged with the loss for The Citadel and dropped to 5-3 after surrendering five runs (three earned) on nine hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts. Zach Sherrill came on for the eighth inning and worked a scoreless frame.
Both teams went down in order in the first inning but had opportunities to score in the second. The Bulldogs got runners to first and second with two outs before Clark induced a fly out to center. UNCG had runners on the corners with just one away in the bottom of the frame but a pair of strikeouts stranded them where they stood.
The Spartans finally got to Reeves in the bottom of the fourth as junior infielder Collin Woody notched an infield single to lead things off. With two outs later in the inning, Kusz rapped out a RBI double that plated Woody for the game's first run. Senior outfielder Eric Kalbfleisch drew a walk before freshman Devin Ruiz sent a single through the left side that allowed Kusz to score from second and leave UNCG with a 2-0 lead.
Thanks to a single by freshman infielder Tripp Shelton and an error by The Citadel's second baseman, the Blue and Gold had runners at second and third with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. Senior infielder Hunter King made it 3-0 with a RBI groundout before Woody tallied a sacrifice fly and extended the Spartan cushion to four runs.
Long singled on the infield to lead off the bottom of the sixth and stole second. Kusz then came through with a RBI single that scooted up the middle and into center field accounting for the final run of the contest. Clark allowed just one more base runner the entire night as his 10th strikeout ended the game in a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.
Due to forecasted rain for the area Sunday, the teams will close the series with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. Both games will be carried live on the SoCon Digital Network.
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.
