GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG Baseball will begin the Southern Conference tournament action on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. as they will take on the Samford Bulldogs at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. The Spartans enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed with a 37-19 overall record, and a 15-9 SoCon record. UNCG finished the regular season tied with Western Carolina for the second spot in the SoCon, but lost the tiebreaker. Samford earned the No. 6 seed and enters with a 32-24 record, 13-11 in the SoCon.
Fans can follow along with the action on Wednesday night by following live stats on UNCGSpartans.com, or watch live on the SoCon Digital Network. If unable to tune into the game, fans can follow along on Twitter by following @UNCGScores for live updates. Fans can follow @UNCGBaseball on Twitter or like UNCG Baseball on Facebook for all updates and news from the baseball program.
UNCG will be making its 14th trip to the SoCon tournament this weekend. UNCG has never won the Southern Conference tournament. This season, UNCG enters with it's highest seed since the 2011 season. The Spartans earned the No. 2 seed in 2011, while entering with a No. 3 seed this week after finishing tied with Western Carolina at 15-9 in conference play this season. The Spartans will face Samford in the opening
round of the SoCon tournament. Earlier this season, Samford took two of three games from UNCG in Greensboro earlier this season.
In the last time out, the Spartans dropped two of three games to the Mercer Bears over the weekend. UNCG had a chance to earn the top seed in the SoCon tournament, but falling in a pair of games pushed UNCG back to the No. 3 seed. Mercer held the Spartans to only four runs over the three games. UNCG earned the third seed of the SoCon tournament after tying with Western Carolina.
Game 1 - UNCG | Hunter Smith (RHP, 6-4, 5.46 ERA, 84.0 IP, 65 K's) vs. Samford | Parker Curry (RHP, 6-2, 3.42 ERA, 71.0 IP, 52 K's)
Smith has been a series opening starter all season for UNCG. The redshirt junior will be making his 15th start of the season, all of which have come on the first game of a series. Smith has earned a 6-4 record. Smith has gone at least 5.0 innings in his last 11 starts, including 7.0 innings of two-hit baseball in a victory over Samford. Curry earned First Team All SoCon honors for his performance during the 2016 regular season. Curry logged a team-high 71.0 innings and has struck out 52 batters this year. In his last start, the senior earned a quality start, throwing 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs and struck out 10 batters against VMI. Curry has earned one complete game this year, earning the 9.0 inning win over UNCG in the second game of the series with the Spartans.
UNCG's offense continues to be one of the top in the nation. The Spartans boast nine hitters over the .300 mark who have played in at least 25 games this season. L.J. Kalawaia (Wailuku, Hawai'i/Ohlone College) and Collin Woody (Tampa, Fla./College of Central Florida) pace the offense, with each having driven in 63 runs this year. Kalawaia and Woody were recently named to First Team All-SoCon.
Ben Spitznagel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wabash Valley CC) and Dillon Stewart (Dunn, N.C./Brunswick CC) also earned postseason honors. Each earned Second Team All-SoCon recognition for their performances during the 2016 season. Spitznagel leads the team with 91 hits this season and has a .392 average with 14 doubles. He has also swiped 20 bases on the year. Stewart leads the team with 12 home runs and has driven in 55 runs. Stewart has also scored 57 times and swiped nine bases.
The winner of the UNCG-Samford game will take on the winner of the Western Carolina-Wofford matchup on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Mercer earned the No. 1 seed and will take on the winner of the VMI-The Citadel matchup that will take place on Tuesday morning. The other opening round matchup will be the first game on Wednesday, with ETSU and Furman play at 9:00 a.m.
Looking at the first round matchup, UNCG will face a Samford team that has hit for a .299 clip with 75 home runs, fourth-most in the nation. The Bulldog offense has a pair of First Team All-SoCon selections in Heath Quinn and Austin Edens. Quinn has played in all 55 games, earning a .350 average and a team-leading 19 home runs, tied for second in the NCAA. Quinn earned All-SoCon honors for his efforts in the outfield. The junior outfielder has hit 15 doubles, driven in 70 runs and scored 57 times. Edens, an All-SoCon designated hitter, started 52 games for the Bulldogs this season. Edens has hit at a .332 clip with 18 long balls. The sophomore has hit 12 doubles and driven in 58 runs. T.J. Dixon leads the Bulldogs with 19 stolen bases, as he is the only Bulldog to swipe more than four bases this year.
Samford also has a First Team All-SoCon honoree on the mound. Parker Curry earned First Team honors after posting a 6-2 record with a 3.42 ERA this season. Curry has worked in 17 games, including eight starts. His 71.0 innings leads the Bulldog pitching staff. Stephen Jones also earned All-SoCon honors, being one of 12 players named to the All Freshman team. Wyatt Burns has worked in some high-stress innings for the Bulldogs, earning six saves on the year. Burns has earned a 3.51 ERA with a 1-1 record in his 33 appearances. Burns has struck out 30 batters in 33.1 innings.
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