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Baseball Falls to Mercer on Senior Day

Baseball UNCGSpartans.com

Baseball Falls to Mercer on Senior Day

Box Score GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG Baseball dropped the final home game of the 2016 season on Friday evening at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.  The Spartans fell 9-1 to the Mercer Bears, with Mercer earning the Southern Conference Regular Season Championship.  UNCG falls to 37-19 on the season, and 15-9 in the SoCon.  Mercer improves to 35-21, and a league-best 16-8 record.  UNCG will await the outcomes of tomorrow's SoCon matchups to learn what seed they will be entering the SoCon tournament next week in Greenville, S.C.

Prior to the start of Friday's game, UNCG honored its three seniors who played in their final game at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.  Keaton Haack (Greensboro, N.C./Pitt CC), L.J. Kalawaia (Wailuku, Hawai'i/Ohlone College) and Collin Woody (Tampa, Fla.) and their families were recognized prior to first pitch.

“This was a tough one.” Head Coach Link Jarrett said,  “I feel for our seniors, because those guys are competitors and have helped our program tremendously.  They've elevated everything that we've done, not only on the field, but in the classroom and off the field as well.  They're good guys that work hard.  That's the toughest part about today, to get to this point, on your field, on senior day, with a chance to win a championship and walk away empty-handed. Mercer pitched and defended, and they did a great job.  We had too many freebies and they capitalized.  We walked more than normal and they took advantage.  They kept the ball down and got a lot of ground balls. Its hard, in this moment, to reflect on what this regular season was like because you feel so upset that you couldn't win the championship.  I'm proud of our team. The guys will regroup, we'll rest up a little bit and we'll get ready for season number two, which is the postseason. 

Ryne Sigmon (Danville, Va./Danville CC) led the Spartans offensively.  Sigmon finished the afternoon 3-for-4.  Ben Spitznagel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wabash Valley CC) added a pair of hits and now has 91 hits this season.  With at least two games to be played in the SoCon tournament, Spitznagel has a chance to eclipse the school record of 100 set in 1997 by Dominic Pattie. 

Cesar Trejo (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale), Dillon Stewart (Dunn, N.C./Brunswick CC) and Tripp Shelton (Winston-Salem, N.C./West Forsyth) each added one hit.

Haack (4-3) started for the Spartans and earned the loss.  The senior logged 2.1 innings, allowing four hits and four earned runs with one strikeout.  Andrew Wantz (Holly Springs, N.C./Holly Springs) threw the next 2.2 innings, striking out two batters and allowing three runs.

Chad Sykes (Creedmoor, N.C./Voyager Academy) threw 2.1 innings, allowed two hits and a pair of earned runs to go with a strikeout.  Woody closed the game out, throwing the final 1.2 innings.  Woody allowed a hit but no runs while facing five batters. 

The Bears got the scoring started early, plating a pair of runs in the top of the first frame.  With runners on first and second, Blaise Lezynski doubled down the right field line to score one.  Charlie Madden added another run on a sacrifice fly to center field. 

Mercer added to its lead in the top of the third inning.  With a runner on second, Madden singled up the middle for the first run. With two runners on, Hunter Bening doubled down the left field line to bring in one, before a one-out ground out made the score 5-0, Bears. 

UNCG cut into the lead in the bottom of the third inning.  Spitznagel and Trejo had back-to-back singles before a ground out from Kalawaia allowed Spitznagel to score. 

Mercer scored a pair of insurance runs in the top of the fifth inning on a Bening two-run homer. 

The Bears tacked on two more in the top of the eighth inning.  Madden hit a two-RBI single with the bases loaded to increase the lead to 9-1.

UNCG will return to action next week in Greenville, S.C. in the SoCon tournament. The Spartans will learn their seed information after the other SoCon teams finish their series on Saturday. 

-UNCG-

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Players Mentioned

L.J. Kalawaia

#9 L.J. Kalawaia

OF
6' 0"
Junior
R/R
Keaton Haack

#36 Keaton Haack

RHP
6' 4"
Junior
R/R
Tripp Shelton

#16 Tripp Shelton

INF
5' 11"
Freshman
R/R
Ryne Sigmon

#12 Ryne Sigmon

INF
6' 0"
Sophomore
S/R
Chad Sykes

#15 Chad Sykes

INF/RHP
5' 11"
Freshman
R/R
Andrew Wantz

#31 Andrew Wantz

INF/RHP
6' 4"
Freshman
L/R
Collin Woody

#22 Collin Woody

INF/RHP
6' 1"
Junior
R/R

Players Mentioned

L.J. Kalawaia

#9 L.J. Kalawaia

6' 0"
Junior
R/R
OF
Keaton Haack

#36 Keaton Haack

6' 4"
Junior
R/R
RHP
Tripp Shelton

#16 Tripp Shelton

5' 11"
Freshman
R/R
INF
Ryne Sigmon

#12 Ryne Sigmon

6' 0"
Sophomore
S/R
INF
Chad Sykes

#15 Chad Sykes

5' 11"
Freshman
R/R
INF/RHP
Andrew Wantz

#31 Andrew Wantz

6' 4"
Freshman
L/R
INF/RHP
Collin Woody

#22 Collin Woody

6' 1"
Junior
R/R
INF/RHP