Box Score GREENSBORO, N.C. – JoJo Underwood (Cartersville, Ga./Chattanooga St. CC) delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the ninth inning to give UNCG baseball their 14th win at home, and 18th win on the year. The Spartans defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 5-4 in walk-off fashion on Sunday afternoon, and completed the three-game sweep of the Big East competitor. UNCG improves to 18-6 on the season, while Georgetown falls to 11-13.
“Both starting pitchers posted some good innings today.” Head Coach Link Jarrett said, “(Matt) Frisbee to go out and give us that quality of a start on a Sunday, really important for our team. The bullpen kept us in check to get to Woody late in the game. The at bats in the end, (Ben) Spitznagel's big at bat, Moritz getting the bunt down, Woody's at bat drawing the walk. Just a tough, hard-nosed kid, and his personality matched that at bat. JoJo (Underwood), to come in off the bench, hasn't played a whole lot, to face a guy that's 90-94 with a good breaking ball. JoJo deserved that moment, he works hard. Georgetown is a good club, that was a good weekend and our guys came out on top.
UNCG only tallied nine hits in the game, snapping a streak of six-straight games with at least ten hits. Underwood logged the game-winning RBI, using a sacrifice fly in his only at bat. Collin Woody (Tampa, Fla./College of Central Florida) drove in a game-high two runs, on one hit. L.J. Kalawaia (Wailuku, Hawai'i/Ohlone College) finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base. Ryne Sigmon (Danville, Va./Danville CC) finished with a pair of hits and an RBI.
Ben Spitznagel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wabash Valley CC) earned a base hit, and scored the game-winning run. Andrew Moritz (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) finished with a 1-for-3 effort with a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and a run scored.
Jake Kusz (Durham, N.C./Riverside) finished with a hit and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Cesar Trejo (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Dillon Stewart (Dunn, N.C./Brunswick CC) also scored a run on a pair of walks.
Matt Frisbee (Candler, N.C./Enka) started on the hill. Frisbee earned a season and career-long start, going 6.0 innings, scattering five hits, an unearned run, with a pair of strikeouts. Ben Kerner (Cary, N.C./Brunswick CC) worked 0.2 innings, allowing one hit and a pair of runs.
Jake Lewis (Wendell, N.C./Corinth Holders) worked 1.1 innings, allowing three hits and an earned run while striking out two. Woody (2-1) earned the win, throwing a scoreless ninth frame, allowing one hit and striking out a batter.
The Hoyas broke the scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning. Michael DeRenzi and Jake Kuzbel hit back-to-back singles before Joseph Bialkowski hit into a fielder's choice but an errant UNCG throw allowed DeRenzi to score and put the Hoyas up 1-0.
The Spartans answered back in their half of the same frame. Kalawaia started the inning with a single through the right side before Stewart drew a walk. Sigmon singled after the ground ball deflected off the pitcher's leg and went into shallow left field to bring in Kalawaia and tie the game up at one. After a Goss walk, Kusz drove a line drive to right field that was deep enough to allow Stewart to score and give the Spartans the 2-1 lead.
Georgetown answered back in the next half inning, taking the lead after scoring three runs in the top of the seventh. A lead off single followed with a walk and an RBI ground out tied the game up at 2-2. After a UNCG pitching change, Austin Shirley doubled down the right field line to give the Hoyas the lead before a DeRenzi single added the insurance run and put the Hoyas up 4-2.
UNCG cut into the Georgetown lead in the bottom of the seventh. Moritz singled through the right side and moved to third on a hit and run, with Kalawaia singling through the right side. Woody drove a fly ball to left deep enough to bring in Moritz and cut the lead to 4-3, Hoyas.
The Spartans scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn the victory. After Trejo reached on an error, Spitznagel singled to left before Moritz laid down a sacrifice bunt to put the winning run in scoring position. After an intentional walk to Kalawaia, Woody drew a bases loaded walk to score the tying run. Underwood fouled off a pair of pitches before sending a fly ball deep to left that allowed Spitznagel to score from third and give the Spartans the 5-4 victory.
UNCG returns to action on Tuesday, Mar. 29th as it hosts the North Carolina A&T Aggies at the UNCG Baseball Stadium at 6:00 p.m.
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