GREENSBORO, N.C. – After playing its last four games on the road, the Spartans' baseball team returns to the UNCG Baseball Stadium to host a three-game set against the University of Pennsylvania this weekend, beginning with a 4 p.m. game on Friday, March 1st.
The Spartans, who are 3-3 through six games, will send redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Phillip Sanderson (1-1, 10.59 ERA) to start the series off against Christian Scafidi, who closed out the 2018 campaign with a 3-4 mark and a 4.52 ERA. Friday's contest marks the first game of the season for the Quakers.
The second game of the series, set for Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m., will pit Penn's Josh Sidney against an undisclosed starter for UNCG. The two teams conclude the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. when Jeremiah Triplett (1-0, 1.59) makes his third start of the season against the Quaker's Mitchell Holcomb, who closed last season without a win in four decisions along with a 4.17 ERA.
NOTES OF INTEREST VERSUS PENN
-This marks the first-ever meeting between Penn and UNC Greensboro. The Quakers are a combined 21-22-3 against teams that hail from North Carolina, dating back to a matchup between the Quakers and UNC in 1897.
-While UNCG has not faced off against Brown, Dartmouth or Penn, prior to this weekend, they have played a combined 40 games against Columbia (1x), Cornell, (3x), Harvard (5x), Princeton (26x) and Yale (5x). The Spartans, who are 24-15-1 all-time against these schools, have played 39 of the 40 games in Greensboro. The lone exception coming in 2015, when UNCG squared off against Columbia in Wilmington, N.C.
-In their 40 meetings against Ivy League teams, the Spartans have outscored their opponents 309-165, averaging 7.7 runs per contest along the way. UNCG has eclipsed double-digit runs on 15 occasions, including a 16-run output against Princeton on March 8, 2015, under Link Jarrett, that marks the most runs by a UNCG team against an Ivy League opponent. There have been six extra-inning affairs with Ivy League schools and UNCG is 2-4 in those contests, winning a 12-inning game under Jarrett on March 14, 2014 against Princeton most recently.
-UNCG and Penn share two common opponents on their 2019 schedules—Winthrop and Princeton. The Spartans will face Winthrop twice, on March 5 and May 14, before facing Princeton in a four-game set on March 8-10, which includes a doubleheader on March 9. The Quakers head to Rock Hill, S.C., to face the Eagles on March 8-10 and will face Princeton in a three-game series April 13-14, with a doubleheader on April 13.
-Penn was picked to finish fourth in the 2019 Ivy League preseason poll. The Quakers last won the Ivy League Championship in 1995, and their last appearance in the best-of-three Ivy Championship Series was in 2017. Penn was swept in two games by Yale.
-The Quakers return all four of their All-Ivy selections from last year including first-team selections Matt McGeagh and Eduardo Malinowski, and second-team selections Peter Matt and Phelan. Penn also returns seven of its starting field players from the 2018 season and ten letterwinners.
NEXT UP FOR THE SPARTANS
UNCG will take to the road for the fifth time this season on Tuesday, March 5, when the Spartans trek to Rock Hill, S.C., to meet Winthrop at 4 p.m.
