GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG baseball team returns from winning two of its last three games at Mercer to face Wake Forest on Tuesday, March 26 at 5 p.m. It is the first of four home games for the Spartans (15-7) this week, who are 12-1 at home in 2019.
UNCG, who has won 12 of 16 games since that contest, is looking to avenge a 2-1, 10-inning, setback to the Demon Deacons (15-10), which came on Wednesday, Feb. 27. In that outing, the UNCG pitching staff of Austin Koehn, Maddux Holshouser, Corey Jackson and Chad Sykes combined for 10 strikeouts and allowed Wake Forest to 11 hits, but it was a 10th-inning bases-loaded single off the bat of Patrick Frick that helped the Demon Deacons to earn the 2-1 victory at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Koehn, making his second start of the season, struck out four Demon Deacon hitters while allowing four hits, two walks and one run over five innings of work. He gave way to Holshouser, who surrendered one hit and one walk to the two batters he faced. Jackson, the third UNCG pitcher to take the mound, tossed the next 1.2 innings and allowed two walks while converting two strikeouts along the way. Sykes spent the next 2.2 innings on the mound for the Spartans, allowing six hits and one run while striking out four Wake Forest batters.
While the UNCG defense limited Wake Forest three hits over the first five complete, the offense was unable to find its way in the contest. The Spartan offense was led by Ryan Caveness (2-4, run) and David Flores (1-3, RBI) on the evening.
TAKING A LOOK AT THE WAKE FOREST SERIES
-Wake Forest and UNC Greensboro have six common opponents between the two schools this season including Quinnipiac, Elon, Furman, Charlotte, Virginia Tech and High Point.
-The Demon Deacons are UNCG's most common ACC opponent during Link Jarrett's time at the helm. The two teams have faced each other on 11 occasions, six times in Winston-Salem and five times in Greensboro, over the last seven seasons. Wake Forest holds a slight 6-5 edge in the series, when playing against Link Jarrett at UNCG, but the Spartans have won three games against the Demon Deacons at UNCG Baseball Stadium during that span. The three wins by the Spartans came on Feb. 25, 2014 (11-10 {10 inn.}), April 8, 2015 (9-8) and most recently on April 12, 2016 (18-3).
-In UNCG's five wins over the Deacons during the last seven years, the Spartans offense has scored at least nine runs on four occasions, including an 18-3 win on April 12, 2016, which marked the most runs under head coach Link Jarrett against any ACC opponent.
-UNCG has outscored Wake Forest 53-28 in the five wins, averaging 10.6 runs per game while limiting the Demon Deacons to an average of 5.6 runs per contest. In three of those games, which took place on Feb. 25, 2014 (11-10); April 12, 2016 (18-3) and Feb. 28, 2018 (11-5); the Spartans topped double figures in runs.
-Wake Forest is 10-6 since earning a 2-1 victory in 10 innings over UNCG when the two last met on Feb. 27. The Demon Deacons enjoyed two three-game winning streaks in that stretch, including a series sweep of Furman (March 2-3 {DH}) before downing Boston College (March 16-17) and Charlotte (March 18) in succession. Wake Forest enters Tuesday's midweek clash against the Spartans on a two-game winning streak taking two of three games at Duke by scores of 9-8 (March 23) and 5-4 {12 inn.} on March 24th.
ON DECK FOR THE SPARTANS
The Spartans will return to SoCon play this weekend when they host Western Carolina (March 29-31) for a three-game series at UNCG Baseball Stadium. The series begins on Friday, March 29 with a 6 p.m. contest. It continues on Saturday at 3 p.m. and concludes on Sunday, March 31 with a 1 p.m. game.
