GREENSBORO, N.C. – Fresh off a convincing 11-5 victory over Wake Forest last night, the UNCG baseball team will welcome the Marist Red Foxes for a three-game series this weekend. The Spartans and Red Foxes will play Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m., 2 p.m., and 1 p.m., respectively at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. UNCG enters at 5-3 having won back-to-back games. Marist is currently 0-5 on the season.
Live stats and a video stream will be available for all three games this weekend. Live stats can be found at UNCGstats.com, and the video stream will be live on the SoCon Digital Network. Links for these services are located on the UNCG baseball schedule page.
UNCG leads the all-time series with the Red Foxes, 8-1. UNCG is 5-1 against Marist in the Link Jarrett era. The first series between the two programs came in the 2007 season with UNCG winning all three games. 2013 saw Marist return to Greensboro, earning the Friday night win in the three-game set. 2016 saw Marist fall in three games, with UNCG outscoring the Red Foxes 40-13.
2017 saw Marist go 32-23 and 16-8 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and won the MAAC Championship in Niagara Falls. Marist competed at the NCAA Gainesville Regional, falling to the host Florida Gators and Bethune-Cookman in the double elimination tournament.
UNCG will feature the same rotation as the previous two weeks. Matt Frisbee (Candler, N.C./Enka) will throw Friday. He has tossed a combined 9.2 innings, striking out 12 hitters while allowing two earned runs. Bryce Hensley (Asheville, N.C./Catawba Valley CC) will start Saturday. Hensley has worked 7.1 innings, striking out 10 hitters on the season. Trey Kissack (Grand Island, Neb./Southeast CC) will start Sunday. He's earned 4.26 ERA in 6.1 innings. He's struck out five hitters and held opponents to a .136 average against.
Andrew Wantz (Holly Springs, N.C./Holly Springs), Jack Maynard (Crozet, Va./Patrick Henry CC) and Easton Welch (Randleman, N.C./Gardner-Webb) anchor the bullpen. Wantz has appeared in five games, going 2-0 and earning a pair of saves in 11.0 innings. His 0.82 ERA and 17 strikeouts are the top on the pitching staff. Maynard has earned a 1.80 ERA to go with a 2-1 record. He's thrown 10.0 innings with 11 strikeouts. Welch has appeared in five games, striking out five hitters and inducing a team-high three double plays in 8.0 innings.
The Spartan offense hits at a .344 clip with six players hitting over the .353 mark. Cesar Trejo (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) leads the team with a .483 average and 10 RBI. He's gone for extra bases seven times, with four doubles a triple and a pair of homers. Dillon Stewart (Coats, N.C./Brunswick CC) leads the team with three home runs and five doubles to go with a .375 batting average.
The Red Foxes started their 2018 campaign with a three-game series at Furman. Marist dropped all three games, but took the Paladins to 10 innings in the finale Sunday before coming up short. After Furman, Marist went to Stillwater, Oklahoma for a pair of games with the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Marist played tough but fell 5-3 and 3-2 to the Big XII opponent.
Marist hits at a .262 team average with three homers in five games. Randy Taveras is hitting at a .450 average (9-for-20) with two runs scored and an RBI. Chris Tracz has appeared in all five games and leads the team with five RBI and a home run. Greg Kocinski and Matt Rubayo each have hit one home run. Kocinski and Frankie Gregorie have both driven in a pair of runs on through the first five games.
Last weekend Marist started sophomore right-hander Skyler Pichardo. Pichardo has started two games, going 9.0 combined innings and allowed seven earned runs. His eight strikeouts are the top on the team and opponents hit .303 against him.
UNCG will see a familiar face Saturday afternoon in Charlie Jerla. Jerla started the Saturday contest in Greensboro in 2016, with UNCG earning an 8-6 win. The game was tied at six before UNCG scored three unearned runs in the eighth inning to earn the victory. The Sunday starter for the Red Foxes against Furman was Connor McNamara. McNamara has appeared in two games, with one start. He's worked 6.1 innings and allowed eight runs while not walking a batter.
Marist's rotation has yet to be confirmed.
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