STATESBORO, Ga. – UNCG softball got the 2017 season started on a great note, defeating the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, 6-3 in the first game of the Eagle Round Robin, hosted by Georgia Southern. The Spartans are now 1-0, with Tennessee Tech falling to 0-1.

Alicia Bazonski (Sheffield, Mass./Mount Everett), the Southern Conference's Preseason Pitcher of the Year, got the starting nod.  The junior logged 5.0 innings, allowing four hits, two runs, one earned and struck out four batters. 

Kylie Bouplon (Wilson, N.C./Forsyth County Day) closed the final two innings, allowing two hits, an earned run and picked up her first strikeout.

Gabrielle Cubbage (Felton, Del./Lake Forest) led the Spartan offense.  Cubbage finished 3-for-4 with three RBI, and a pair of runs scored on two doubles and a home run. Rachael McClaskey (Pine Hill, N.J./Overbrook) scored a pair of runs with a hit and drew a walk. Five other Spartans had a base hit in the contest.

Tennessee Tech jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.  Jessie Lowry earned a four-pitch walk to start the frame.  After a sacrifice bunt moved her to second, a ball was misplayed in right field, giving the Golden Eagles the early lead.

The TTU lead was short-lived, as the Spartans scored three in the bottom of the frame.  Jasmine Palmer started her UNCG career with a double to right center field.  After a McClaskey walk, Cubbage connected for a double to score Palmer and moved McClaskey to third. A passed ball allowed McClaskey to score, and Cubbage came around on a Hagan Kiser (Asheboro, N.C./Southwestern) single.

UNCG added to its lead in the bottom of the third inning.  Jordan Gontram (Wake Forest, N.C./Heritage) drilled her first career solo home run to straightway center field to put UNCG up, 4-1. It was also Gontram's first hit as a Spartan.

The Spartans pushed the lead to 6-1 after Cubbage hit her first home run of the season, a two-run blast to left field in the bottom of the fourth.

Tennessee Tech battled back, scoring solo runs in the top of the fifth and sixth innings.  Sarah Freels hit a solo homer in the fifth, and Alyssa Richards added another solo shot in the top of the sixth.

UNCG is back in action this afternoon  as the Spartans will take on Georgia Southern at 4:00 p.m.

-UNCG-