GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG baseball heads to Winston-Salem tomorrow evening as the Spartans will take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at 4:00 at David F. Couch Ballpark. UNCG enters the contest 1-2 on the season. Wake Forest is 1-3. It will mark the first midweek game for each team in 2017.
There will be live stats available for tomorrow's matchup. A link to the live stats is located on the UNCG baseball schedule page. There will not be an audio or video stream available for tomorrow's game.
Pitching Matchup
Dan Loats (Eden Prairie, Minn./NIACC)– Jr. – RHP vs. Morgan McSweeney – Fr. - RHP
The Spartans struggled against one of the top pitching staffs in the country on opening weekend. UNCG managed just ten hits in the three-game series with South Carolina. Despite struggling out of the gates, UNCG still possesses one of the top offenses in the country. The Blue and Gold led the NCAA in batting average and slugging percentage in 2016. UNCG lost two position players from last year's team.
Ben Spitznagel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wabash Valley CC) and Andrew Moritz (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) serve as catalysts at the top of the lineup. Spitznagel finished the 2016 season with a .385 batting average, starting all 59 games at second base. He returns the most stolen bases from last year, swiping 21. He was an ABCA/Rawlings first team All-Region selection, and was a third team All-American honoree. Moritz, a left-handed hitting outfielder, is coming off a freshman season where he hit for a .400 average in 41 games. A broken foot caused him to miss the final 18 contests. He hit seven triples a season ago, finishing one shy of tying the school record. Moritz earned Freshman All-American honors from Louisville Slugger.
As far as power, UNCG will look for contributions from Dillon Stewart (Dunn, N.C./Brunswick CC), Jake Kusz (Durham, N.C./Riverside) and Cesar Trejo (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale). Stewart led the team with 14 home runs, and a .665 slugging percentage last season while driving in 62. Kusz started all 59 games behind the plate, hit 17 doubles, nine long balls, and drove in 52 runs. Trejo started the season on the bench before working his way into the starting lineup. Trejo ended his freshman season as a Louisville Slugger and D1baseball.com Freshman All-American after hitting for a .363 average, with 19 extra base hits, and nine home runs.
UNCG's projected lineup features three others who hit over .310 last season. Junior shortstop Tripp Shelton (Winston-Salem, N.C./West Forsyth) missed time last season due to injuries, but posted a .357 average with nine doubles and nine stolen bases in 31 games. Outfielder Ryne Sigmon (Danville, Va./Danville CC) hit for a .329 average with 22 extra-base hits, with five triples and five home runs. Senior first baseman Michael Goss (Cartersville, Ga./Chattanooga State CC)hit for a .310 average in 45 games in 2016. He drove in 29 runs, while recording a .494 slugging percentage.
On the mound, UNCG returns all but three pitchers from last year's squad, and added one freshman and five junior college pitchers.
Dan Loats will be making his first start as a Spartan. At Northern Iowa Area CC, Loats helped lead the team to a 47-16 overall record. He was ICCAC second team all-region. He holds school records for career strikeouts, single season wins and career innings pitched at NIACC.
Relievers Andrew Wantz and Chad Sykes will look to continue solidifying the bullpen. The two combined to go 11-3 with eight saves, 157 strikeouts, and held opponents to a .190 average against in 2016. Sykes appeared in 27 games out of the bullpen. Wantz was the workhorse for UNCG last season, making 34 appearances. Wantz was also named first team All-SoCon a season ago, and was the Co-Pitcher of the Year in the league's media poll. He received Preseason All-SoCon recognition for the 2017 season.
Other transfers that will be looked to produce are Alex Sova and Travis Tuttle. Returners Ben Kerner, Easton Welch, Drew Goodman, Jake Mayhew, Zach Kuchmaner, Jake Lewis and redshirt freshman Jeremiah Triplett will all be counted on for important innings throughout the season.
The Demon Deacons are fresh off a 35-27 season which saw them reach the NCAA Regionals. In the College Station Regional, Wake Forest opened the tournament with a 5-3 victory over Minnesota. After falling to Texas A&M, the Demon Deacons dropped the next matchup with Minnesota, 8-3 and were eliminated.
Wake Forest enters Tuesday's game having gone 1-3 weekend to open up the season in No. 25 Houston, Texas. Wake Forest played two games against Nicholls State and two games against Houston. The Demon Deacons defeated Nicholls State, 5-0 to begin the season, but fell in the nightcap, 8-1 to Houston. In a rematch with Nicholls State, Wake Forest was defeated 12-5, and finished the weekend falling to Houston, 5-4.
The Demon Deacon offense has been asked to replace third baseman Will Craig. Craig was taken in the first round of the 2016 MLB Draft. He hit for a .379 average, with 16 doubles, 16 home runs and drove in a team-high 66 runs. Stuart Fairchild looks to duplicate some of the success Craig had a season ago. Fairchild finished 2016 with a .293 average, hitting 20 doubles and five home runs. He was 14-17 on stolen bases last season. Those numbers added up to him being placed on the Golden Spikes Award Watch List prior to the start of the 2017 season. The Golden Spikes Award is presented to the top amateur baseball player in the country. Last season, Mercer's Kyle Lewis took home the award.
Starting on the bump for Wake Forest is freshman right-hander Morgan McSweeney. McSweeney has had one appearance this season, picking up the loss in relief to Nicholls State. McSweeney threw 0.2 innings in the third game of opening weekend. The rookie struggled with his command, issuing three walks to the eight batters he faced. He allowed four runs, two of which were earned and picked up a strikeout. Opponents are batting .600 early in his rookie season.
UNCG takes on the Demon Deacons tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 at David F. Couch Ballpark.
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