GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG baseball is set for another important Southern Conference series this weekend as it hosts the Mercer Bears in a three-game series beginning Saturday evening. The Spartans and Bears will take the field Saturday, Sunday at 3 p.m. and Monday at 1 p.m. before The Spartans will host the Winthrop Eagles Tuesday night at 6 p.m. The Spartans currently sit in first place in the SoCon regular season standings, holding a two-game advantage with nine conference games remaining.
UNCG enters the weekend with a 31-11 overall record and are 12-3 in SoCon play. Mercer brings in a 31-15 record and is 10-8 in league play. There will be live stats and a video stream available for the series with Mercer. Live stats are available via UNCGStats.com and the video stream will be live on the SoCon Digital Network. There will not be a live stream of Tuesday's matchup with Winthrop.
The all-time series is an even split of six games each. The first meeting in 1998 saw UNCG head to Macon with the Bears taking two of three games. Since Mercer joined the SoCon in the 2015 season, the visiting team has taken two of the three games in each series, with UNCG defeating Mercer two of three times a season ago. 2016 saw Mercer clinch the SoCon Regular Season Championship at the UNCG Baseball Stadium on the final weekend of the regular season.
UNCG has won five of its last six games, sweeping one of the hottest team's in the country in Samford before taking two of three games from Wofford to take the two-game lead in the SoCon standings. After facing one of the more dominant pitching performances this season, the Spartans rebounded to win the final two games and take the series in Spartanburg.
The Spartan rotation will feature Matt Frisbee Saturday night, Bryce Hensley Sunday evening with Jake Lewis getting the ball in Monday's matinee. Frisbee is currently eighth in the nation with eight wins this season. He's earned a 2.88 ERA in 72 innings and struck out a career-best 96 hitters. Hensley will be making his 40th start at UNCG. This season he's earned a 5-2 record with a 3.66 ERA with 62 punch-outs in 64 innings of work. Jake Lewis will be making his fifth weekend start. The Spartans have gone 6-0 in his starts this season. Last week, Lewis worked 3.2 innings before giving way to a bullpen that had thrown just three-plus innings in the previous two games as the Spartans took the series with the Terriers.
Relief pitching has been a strong asset for the Spartans this season. Senior relievers Andrew Wantz and Jack Maynard have anchored the late innings for the Spartans. Wantz has appeared in 20 games, working 43.1 innings with 64 strikeouts, eight saves and a 5-0 record. Maynard has a 4-3 record has appeared in team-high 23 games with a team-low 1.78 ERA, second lowest in the SoCon. Easton Welch adds 22 relief appearances and 35.0 innings of work. Welch has earned two saves and a 4-1 record with a 3.34 ERA. He holds opponents to a .207 average against, lowest of any pitcher on staff this season.
The Spartan offense continues to be one of the top in the nation and the one of the most productive in the SoCon. Andrew Moritz leads the Spartan attack. The junior outfielder hits at a .433 average with 19 extra-base hits and tied a school record with eight triples this season. Moritz's season average and eight triples are second in the nation in each category. Cesar Trejo adds a .360 batting average to go with a team-high 14 doubles. The pair has driven in 43 and 44 runs, respectively.
Last week's SoCon Player of the Week found a power stroke as of late. Shortstop Tripp Shelton has hit four home runs in the last four games, including a two-home run performance in Saturday's win at Wofford. Caleb Webster adds a .356 average with 27 RBI this season.
The Bears won three-straight SoCon Regular Season Championships since joining the league in 2015. Mercer is one of just five schools nationally that have won 35 or more games in eight consecutive seasons, joining LSU, Coastal Carolina, Florida State and Vanderbilt. After dropping six-straight games two weeks ago, the Bears have rebounded to win five of their last six, including a midweek victory over the reigning National Champions and currently No.1-ranked Florida Gators in Gainesville last week.
The Bears will feature an experienced rotation with two seniors and a junior getting the ball. Christian Vann will oppose Frisbee Saturday. Austin Cox will start Sunday and Chase Burks will get the ball Sunday. Vann is a left-handed pitcher with a 4-2 record and a 3.12 ERA in 52 innings this season. Cox is 6-3 with a 4.52 ERA and a team-high 91 strikeouts in 63.2 innings of work. Burks is 5-3 with a 5.34 ERA with 49 strikeouts.
The Mercer bullpen continues to be strong this season, led by Robert Broom. Broom was a First Team All-SoCon performer last year and was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American in 2016. This season, Broom has gone 8-1, picked up two saves in 56.1 innings and leads the Bears with 88 strikeouts. He was a big reason for the Bears' victory at Florida as he struck out 12 Gators in six innings of work to earn the victory. He's allowed just seven doubles and holds opponents to a .205 average against. Nick Spear serves as the Bears' closer, logging 25 appearances to lead the team. Spear has earned a 2-2 record with a 2.97 ERA and five saves in 30.1 innings. Ben Brock adds a 4.15 ERA in 12 appearances out of the bullpen. Zach Graveno has tossed 35.0 innings with 31 strikeouts. Mercer currently leads the nation with 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
The Bear offense is second in the SoCon and 22nd nationally with a .297 team average. Trey Truitt leads the Bears with a .359 average in 44 games this season. He and teammate Le Bassett lead the SoCon with 10 home runs each as they have driven in 31 and 36 runs, respectively. Truitt adds nine doubles and two triples to go with 11 stolen bases. RJ Yeager hits at a .343 average with 17 extra base hits and leads the Bears with 40 RBI. Alex Hanson adds a .310 average with 13 extra-base hits and leads the Bears with 20 stolen bases.
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