GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Spartan baseball team will host Campbell for the second time in program history on Tuesday, April 16th at 6 p.m. in the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
The Spartans are 22-11 overall and 19-4 at home this season, winning their last four straight at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. UNCG has dominated the opposition at home this season, owning a 146-111 edge in runs scored, while holding opposing hitters to a .242 batting average.
UNCG will send redshirt junior Jeremiah Triplett (2-2, 6.42 ERA) to the mound to oppose Campbell's Kevin Westlake (2-2, 6.06 ERA). Triplett will be making his 10th start of the season as he goes in search of his first win since downing Jacksonville March 16th (13-3) in the second game of doubleheader.
Campbell (23-13) is the third opponent out of the Big South Conference that UNCG has faced this year, along with High Point on two occasions (February 19 / April 3) and Winthrop (March 5). The Camels are 8-7 on the road, winning four of their last five games away from Buies Creek.
UNCG vs. Campbell Quick Notes
-Tuesday's game against Campbell marks the first meeting between the two schools since March 30, 2016. UNCG posted an 8-2 win in that contest and was led at the plate by Michael Goss (2-3, RBI, 2 runs) and Cesar Trejo, who finished 1-for-3 with two RBI and two runs, including a home run.
-Reliever Chad Sykes tops the nation in ERA (1st-0.55), while ranking among the top 80 in strikeouts per nine innings (25th-12.27), hits allowed per nine innings (52nd-6.00) and saves (76th-5).
Sykes has tossed at least two innings in each of his last six appearances, including his longest outing of the season on Saturday, April 6th (vs. Furman) where he logged four innings, allowed one hit and three walks while striking out five Paladin batters. The five strikeouts tied his single-game season-high, which took place against High Point (Feb. 19) and Mercer (March 22). His three walks also tied a single-game season-high, set against Western Carolina (March 31).
Sykes came out of the bullpen on Saturday, April 13th to record his team-best fifth save of the season against George Mason. In two innings of work he faced 10 batters, recorded three strikeouts, allowed three hits and issued one walk.
-The Spartans have played nine of the 10 schools that make up the current Big South Conference in program history dating back to 1991, with Longwood being the only program that UNCG has never faced on the diamond. UNCG is 76-51, which equals to a .598 winning percentage, against Big South programs in that span.
The Spartans are 10-9 (.526 winning percentage) under head coach Link Jarrett against a Big South Conference institutions. Jarrett has faced five different Big South programs in his seven years at the helm of UNCG, including UNC Asheville (2x), High Point (11x), Gardner-Webb (2x), Campbell (1x) and Winthrop (3x).
-The Spartan trio of Josh Madole, Greg Hardison and Caleb Webster enter the week with the longest ongoing hitting streaks. Madole, who has reached base via a hit in his last 15 games, tied teammate Coleman Sawyer's 15-game streak with a single against George Mason on Sunday, April 14th.
Madole's hitting streak began at First National Bank Field, versus crosstown rival N.C. A&T on March 19, when he finished 1-for-4 from the plate with a double. The sophomore slugger has a total of seven multi-hit games in his current streak, posting two hits against Mercer (March 22), Wake Forest (March 26), Western Carolina (March 30 / March 31), High Point (April 3) and Furman (April 5 / April 6). Madole has scored nine runs and tallied six RBI during his current 15-game streak.
-The pitching trio of Austin Koehn, Jack Voigt and Alex Hoppe limited the George Mason lineup to three hits and combined for the first UNCG shutout since April 3, 2018 (vs. Charlotte), as the Spartans earned an 8-0 victory on Sunday, April 14th.
Koehn hurled seven innings, allowed two hits, two walks and tallied six strikeouts, en route to the the longest performance by any UNCG starter on the season. It topped a pair of 6.2 inning outings by Jeremiah Triplett (vs. Quinnipiac, Feb. 16) and Koehn himself, who went 6.2 innings against Furman (April 7).
ON DECK FOR UNCG
The Spartans return to Southern Conference action this weekend when they head to Birmingham, Ala., for a three-game series Samford. The first game of the series is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 19 and will be followed by games on Friday (5 p.m.) and Saturday (2 p.m.).
