GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG Baseball team returns to the UNCG Baseball Stadium on Wednesday afternoon for a matchup with the University of Maryland – Eastern Shore Hawks. The Spartans come in sporting an 11-5 record after finishing 3-1 in the Coastal Carolina Invitational with Illinois and Coastal Carolina. UMES enters the game 4-11 as they will play Duke in Durham, N.C. Tuesday evening.
The Spartans and Hawks have only played once in UNCG's history. UNCG defeated UMES 16-5 in the previous meeting in 2014. The Spartans garnered 19 hits in the contest, with 13 RBI. UNCG had six players with multiple hits in the game, with five picking up multiple RBI.
UNCG is coming off of a 3-1 weekend with two games against Illinois and Coastal Carolina each. The Spartans won a doubleheader with both teams on Friday, using 21 hits to earn a 20-9 victory over the Illini. UNCG then defeated Coastal Carolina 4-2 in the nightcap. The Navy and Gold came back the next day and picked up a 5-4 victory over Illinois in ten innings. UNCG dropped the final game of the weekend, 7-4 to Coastal Carolina and are now 11-5 on the season.
The Spartans are projected to send right-hander Keaton Haack (Greensboro, N.C./Pitt CC) to the bump Wednesday. The senior will be starting his third midweek contest, and will be making his fifth appearance of the season. Haack has worked in 8.2 innings, allowed six runs; five earned and struck out nine while holding opponents to a .229 average against. The Spartans haven't been shy about using their bullpen so far this season. Andrew Wantz (Holly Springs, N.C./Holly Springs) has made nine appearances out of the bullpen, pitching in 22.1 innings, earning a 1.61 ERA and a 2-0 record. Wantz has fanned 31 hitters during his time on the hill, 36th most in the NCAA. Wantz is also currently tied for 28th in the NCAA with a 12.49 strike outs per nine innings pitched mark. Chad Sykes (Creedmoor, N.C./Voyager Academy) is right behind Wantz, with eight appearances on the season. Sykes has earned two saves in 11.0 innings with 12 strike outs.
UNCG's offense is led by redshirt senior L.J. Kalawaia (Wailuku, Hawai'i/Ohlone College). Kalawaia is hitting a team-best .400 in 14 games. He has three extra-base hits on the season, to go with a .514 on-base percentage. Kalawaia also leads the team with six stolen bases on the year. Collin Woody (Tampa, Fla./College of Central Florida) has started all 16 games, hitting in the clean up spot for every game. Woody is tied for the team lead with 19 RBI, is second with six doubles and is tied for second on the team with two homers, all while hitting for a .375 average. Tripp Shelton (Winston-Salem, N.C./West Forsyth) has the most extra-base hits, with 10 on the year. His eight doubles is already more than a year ago, and is tied for 14th in the NCAA in that category. Shelton is tied with Kalawaia and Dillon Stewart (Dunn, N.C./Brunswick) for the team lead with 18 runs scored.
The UNCG offense is currently first in the NCAA with a .353 team batting average. The Spartans are also in the top ten of many offensive categories including scoring, runs, hits, doubles per game, doubles, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.
UMES travels to UNCG for the first time since the 2014 season. UMES made the trip to Greensboro on March 19th and were defeated 16-5 by the Spartans. The Hawks enter the midweek matchup after playing at VMI the weekend before and taking on Duke on Tuesday. UMES is currently 4-11, and was swept by VMI the weekend before. UMES got the season started on the right foot, taking two of three from Fairleigh Dickinson. UMES then dropped five of the next six, taking one from Saint Peter's. After taking one of four games with Eastern Kentucky, the Hawks have lost four-straight prior to the midweek games with Duke and the Spartans.
The Hawk offense is led by Jessey Valdez. Valdez has started in 13 of 15 games, and has hit for a .360 average. The redshirt sophomore has connected for five doubles, a home run and currently leads UMES with 13 RBI. Mike Escanilla has been another consistent contributor to the Hawks offense. Escanilla has started all 15 games and has a .333 average in that span. He has hit the only triple of the season, driven in nine runs and scored 10 runs of his own. Dallas Culotta and Skylar Murray are tied for the team lead with a pair of home runs each. Culotta has started seven games and is also tied for second on the team with five doubles. Murray has started seven games as well and has four hits, two of which are home runs.
On the mound, UMES has used a combination of 13 pitchers who have all thrown in at least four innings. Jason Marquez has made three appearances, with one start in his 9.0 innings pitched. Marquez has picked up a win while earning a 4.00 ERA. Tom Summers has also made four appearances to go with one start. In his 6.1 innings, he has allowed five runs; three of which were earned. As a staff, UMES has a 10.26 ERA and is allowing opposing teams to hit for a .367 average.
Game time is set for 6:00 p.m. tomorrow night, and as always, admission to the game is free.
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