NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The UNCG baseball team saw its 2015 campaign come to an end Thursday as the Spartans fell to No. 4 seed VMI and No. 8 seed The Citadel by 6-5 and 8-4 scores in the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. UNCG ends its season at 23-27.

GAME ONE – VMI 6, UNCG 5

A Matt Winn solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning proved the difference in UNCG's first round loss to VMI.

Junior RHP Ryan Clark, who did not factor in the decision, struck out a career-high 12 batters in 6.1 innings of work. He surrendered five runs (four earned) on seven hits and walked two. Senior RHP Tyler Frazier suffered his first loss of the season and dropped to 3-1 after giving up one run on one hit in the final 1.2 innings. Jack Gomersall improved to 3-1 with the win while Taylor Edens recorded his 12th save of the season.

Freshman infielder Tripp Shelton matched his career high with three hits, scored a run and drove in one. Seniors Aaron Wright and Tyler Long both chipped in a pair of hits while Long crossed the plate three times. Jordan Tarsovich and David Geary paced the Keydets with two hits apiece.

VMI struck for three runs on three hits and an error in the bottom of the first to stake itself to a 3-0 advantage. Collin Fleischer singled through the right side with one out and the bases loaded to drive home two runs and the throw from right field traveled to the backstop allowing a third run to cross home plate.

With one away in the top of the third, freshman Tripp Shelton and senior Zac MacAneney produced a single and double consecutively to stand on second and third. King then reached on an error and both runners were able to score to pull UNCG within 3-2. A strikeout and a pop up then ended the inning.

The Keydets pulled back a run in the home half after leading off with two-straight singles and scoring on a double play but Shelton answered with a RBI single that scored Long and trimmed VMI's lead to 4-3.

The Spartans tied things up at four in the top of the sixth when Long cranked his third home run of the season over the fence in center field. Shelton followed with a one-out single but he would be stranded at first.

The Keydets threatened in the bottom of the sixth as David Geary walked to lead off the half inning and reached third after a wild pitch and a groundout. Clark bore down, however, and struck out the next two batters to keep VMI off of the board and the game tied.

After UNCG went down in order in the top of the seventh, the Keydets retook the lead in the home half. With one out, Thomas Stallings was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a Brandon Angus double. Ray Lopez followed with a single through the middle that plated Geary. A double play would then end the inning with VMI in the lead 5-4.

Long tripled with one out in the top of the eighth and would score a batter later when sophomore Ryne Sigmon sent a single up the middle and knotted the score at five. Matt Winn gave the lead back to his side, however, in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff solo home run. That would prove the game winner as the Spartans could not push across anything in the top of the ninth.

GAME TWO – The Citadel 8, UNCG 4

A three-run sixth inning propelled The Citadel past UNCG in the first elimination game of the tournament. The Bulldogs scored five of the final six runs of the contest.

Long led the offense with two hits and a run scored while Sigmon chipped in with two RBI. Austin Mapes and Jacob Watcher produced three hits each for The Citadel and Mapes drove in three runs.

Junior LHP Bryant Stafford took the loss and fell to 4-3 after giving up three runs on five hits in 2.2 innings. He walked one and struck out four. Austin Mason nailed down the victory for the Bulldogs tossing two scoreless innings during which he walked two and fanned three batters.

Both teams went down in order in the first inning but The Citadel jumped on top in the home half of the second when a walk and a failed pickoff attempt led to a two-run double by Watcher and put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0 after two complete.

The Spartans knotted it up quickly in the top of third. Long and Sigmon doubled consecutively for the first run before a throwing error brought Sigmon home. UNCG threatened to take its first lead of the game with still no outs on the board but The Citadel turned the third triple play in SoCon tournament history to escape the inning without any further damage.

The teams traded runs in the fourth inning and The Citadel went ahead for good in the bottom of the sixth as Mapes posted a RBI single and Johnathan Stokes followed with a two-run double to make it a 6-3 game. The Bulldogs then netted two of the last three runs to complete the four-run victory.

Keep up with the UNCG baseball team all year long by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @UNCGBaseball/@uncgsports.