GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 5 seed UNCG baseball team looks to start a journey toward the program's first-ever Southern Conference tournament title Thursday when the Blue and Gold takes on No. 4 seed VMI in the first round of the 2015 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties. First pitch between the Spartans and Keydets is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park in Charleston, S.C.

UNCG will attempt to win its first SoCon tournament game since 2008. The Spartans dropped an 11-inning affair to Furman in a play-in game last season, went two and out in 2011 and did not qualify for the tournament in 2009, 2010, 2012 or 2013. The Blue and Gold holds a 19-25 record in SoCon tourney games.

UNCG and VMI met just 10 days ago up in Lexington, Va. as the Keydets took two of three in the series. The Spartans captured the series finale 13-11 in 10 innings and scored the game's final seven runs including two in the top of the 10th frame. UNCG is 19-9 against VMI all time and 1-0 in SoCon tournament play recording a 10-1 win in the 2003 event.

The Spartan bats are heating up at just the right time as the team is hitting .327 in its last 12 games. During the stretch, UNCG has hit 19 home runs and has produced a .509 slugging percentage. Senior outfielder Eric Kalbfleisch, who was just named to the 2015 All-Southern Conference Second Team, is on fire with his bat as he is hitting .481 with 25 hits, 11 runs scored, four doubles, a triple, two home runs and a .712 slugging percentage since the start of the Mercer series back on April 24.

The Blue and Gold finished the regular season on top of the league rankings in batting average for the third-straight season with .302 team mark and also sits second among SoCon squads in slugging percentage and fourth in on base percentage. On the national scene, UNCG is sixth in home runs per game, 11th in slugging percentage, 13th in total home runs and 17th in batting average.

Last Time in the SoCon Tournament: Furman scored two runs in the bottom of the 11th inning to capture a 6-5 victory in the first play-in game of the 2014 Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Riley Park. Down to its last strike in the top of the ninth, UNCG rallied to tie the score at four when junior Hunter King recorded a RBI single through the right side. The Spartans even took the lead in the top of the 11th off a sacrifice fly by junior Eric Kalbfleisch but the Paladins plated the two runs on three hits and two UNCG errors to seal the victory.

Last Meeting with VMI: UNCG scored the final seven runs of the game to erase a five-run deficit on the way to a 13-11 extra inning victory over VMI in the series finale at Gray-Minor Stadium. The story of the day was junior Collin Woody who affected the game positively both at the plate and on the mound. At the dish, he went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI including his ninth home run of the season. Woody also earned his first victory of the season improving to 1-0 after tossing the final four innings and allowing no runs on just five hits with three strikeouts. Blaine Laflin dropped to 0-2 with the loss after surrendering two runs on two hits. He did not record an out. Kalbfleisch had a career day at the plate with five hits in six at bats. He reached base six times in the game after also getting hit by a pitch. Classmate Aaron Wright notched a three-hit day as he and Kalbfleisch extended respective hitting streaks to 13 games apiece. The duo also combined for five runs scored and three RBI.  The Spartans racked up 22 hits in the game – the most in the Jarrett era and the most since UNCG tallied 24 in an 11-8 victory over Davidson March 13, 2004.

Bits and Pieces: UNCG won 12 SoCon games this season, the most since the 2011 squad captured 22 on the way to a second place finish ... Clark's complete game shutout against The Citadel was the first for the Blue and Gold since 2013 ... The Spartans have hit a home run in 26 of their last 29 games ... The Blue and Gold is 18-8 when compiling double figures in the hit column and 8-0 when scoring 10 or more runs ... The Spartans have surpassed their home run total from last season (25), hitting 57 so far this campaign - the highest single-season total since 2008 (66 HR) ...  11 different players have a home run to their credit this season with Wright leading the way with 12 long balls ... The Spartan pitching staff has struck out 10 or more batters in 15 games ... Woody is the only Spartan to have started all 48 games this season ... Former UNCG pitching standout Max Povse made the Opening Night start for the Rome Braves April 9 allowing just one earned run on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Up Next: If UNCG can defeat VMI, the Spartans would advance to face the winner of the first round contest between Mercer and The Citadel.