Box Score GREENSBORO, N.C. – Michael Goss (Cartersville, Ga./Chattanooga St. CC) finished a 3-for-5, with a home run and four RBI in an 11-6 victory over the VMI Keydets on Saturday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. UNCG improves to 22-6 overall, and 2-0 in the Southern Conference (SoCon). VMI falls to 15-16, and 1-4 in SoCon action.
“That was an interesting game,” Head Coach Link Jarrett said, “(Bryce) Hensley I thought had his best stuff all season and in the third inning he got in a little trouble, but got through it. (Michael) Goss had a great day, the three-run home run, the quality of that at bat, fouling off pitches, battling, that got us back into it. Their pitching is good, that starting pitcher gave us a tough time last year, and it was the same thing this year. He got deep into the game for them and we hung in there. (Dillon) Stewart's home run was nice. We played solid defense, then to have (Chad) Sykes and (Collin) Woody at the end finish it up. I'm proud of the way we played, that was a good baseball team we beat, and it'll be a dogfight tomorrow.”
At the plate, Goss led all performers with three hits and four RBI. Dillon Stewart (Dunn, N.C./Brunswick CC) finished 1-for-2 with a home run, two RBI, three runs scored and drew three walks in the game. Ryne Sigmon (Danville, Va./Danville CC) finished 2-for-5 with a pair of runs and an RBI.
Andrew Moritz (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) also picked up a pair of hits and drove in one run. Collin Woody (Tampa, Fla./College of Central Florida) finished 1-for-3 with three runs scored, reaching base on a walk and a hit by pitch in the game.
Jake Kusz (Durham, N.C./Riverside) finished 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored. Cesar Trejo (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) added a hit and a run scored, with Ben Spitznagel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wabash Valley CC) adding one base hit.
Bryce Hensley (Asheville, N.C./Catawba Valley CC) (4-0) started and earned the win. Hensley logged 5.0 innings, surrendering six hits, and five earned runs.
Chad Sykes (Creedmoor, N.C./Voyager Academy) was first out of the bullpen, going the next 3.0 innings. Sykes struck out four batters without allowing a hit. Woody threw the final frame, surrendering a run on one hit.
The Keydets took an early lead, scoring a run in the top of the first inning for the second-straight game. After a one-out walk to David Geary, Geary and Peyton Maddox executed a hit and run and Maddox dropped in a fly ball to right field and scored Geary from first to take an early lead.
UNCG knotted the game up in the bottom of the second frame. After a walk to Stewart, Sigmon doubled down the left field line to put runners in scoring position. Kusz hit a dribbler to second to bring in Stewart and tie the game up 1-1 on the ground out.
VMI regained the lead in the very next half inning. Back-to-back singles opened the frame before a triple from Geary brought in both. Geary scored on a ground out from Collin Fleischer. Tyler Tharp pushed the lead to 5-1 Keydets with a solo home run to right field.
The Spartans took the first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, plating six runs. Woody was hit by a pitch and moved to second after Stewart drew his second walk of the afternoon. Sigmon singled to right to bring in Woody before a wild pitch allowed Stewart to score. After a Kusz walk, Michael Goss worked an eight-pitch at bat before hammering a home run to left center field. After a Trejo double, Moritz singled to add another and put the Spartans up 7-5 after four innings.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Woody earned a walk to bring up Stewart. Stewart, who had drawn walks in his previous three at bats, hit a no-doubter to left field and gave the Spartans a 9-5 cushion.
UNCG added a couple unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to go up 11-5 before surrendering a solo run in the top of the ninth inning to earn the 11-6 victory.
UNCG and VMI return to action on Sunday, April 3rd at 1:00 p.m. for the series finale at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
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