Baseball 4/17/2019 2:56:00 PM UNCGSpartans.com

Spartans Make Weekend Trek to Birmingham to Face Samford

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG baseball team returns to Southern Conference action this weekend when it heads to Birmingham, Ala., for a three-game series with Samford that begins on Thursday, April 18th at 5 p.m.

The Spartans (22-12, 5-4 SoCon) will take a two-game winning streak in league play into the series with Samford, after posting back-to-back wins against Furman on April 6 (11-9, 13 inn.) and April 7 (2-1). Samford (26-11, 8-1 SoCon) has won three straight in league action following a sweep of The Citadel on April 12-14.

UNCG, which enters the game fourth in the SoCon standings, opens the series with Phillip Sanderson (4-2, 2.58 ERA) toeing the rubber in the opening game of the series. The Spartans have not announced Friday's starter, but will conclude the series with Austin Koehn (2-1, 2.86 ERA) on the mound Saturday.

Samford, the conference leader in the standings, will send Samuel Strickland (5-1, 4.03 ERA) to the mound to open the series Thursday. Jessie McCord (3-1, 3.63 ERA) is slated as the game two starter for the Bulldogs and Zach Hester (4-3, 2.64 ERA) closes out the three-game set on Saturday evening.

QUICK NOTES FOR SAMFORD SERIES
-In Tuesday evening's game against Campbell, UNCG reliever Chad Sykes finished off a one-inning outing with a pair of strikeouts. That marks the 14th time this season that Sykes has tallied at least two K's in a game.
Sykes has recorded at least one strikeout in his last 54 appearances on the mound for the Spartans, a streak which dates back to the 2016 season. He began the streak at UNC Wilmington, when he tallied one strikeout versus the Seahawks on March 9th. The redshirt senior pitcher has had multiple strikeouts in 36 of the 54 games during this stretch, fanning a single-game high nine batters against Wofford on May 26, 2016.
-The pair of Chad Sykes and Corey Jackson have proved to be a major force out of the UNCG bullpen in 2019.
The duo ranks among the top of five in seven major statistical categories for the Spartans, including ERA (Skyes-1st, 0.53 / Jackson-N/A), wins (Skyes-1st, four / Jackson-1st, four), strikeouts (Sykes-1st, 47 / Jackson-2nd, 42), innings pitched (Sykes-4th, 34 / Jackson-5th, 33), appearances (Jackson-1st, 20 / Sykes-t-2nd, 16), opposing batting average (Sykes-1st, .183 / Jackson-4th, .234) and saves (Sykes-1st, five / Jackson-N/A),
Along with ranking atop the UNCG staff in multiple statistical categories, Sykes tops the nation in ERA (1st-0.53), while ranking among the top 80 in strikeouts per nine innings (23rd-12.44), hits allowed per nine innings (46th-5.82) and saves (81st-5).
-The Spartans have played against Samford 32 times in program history since the two teams first met on March 28, 2009, the Bulldogs' first season in the Southern Conference.
While Samford holds a 19-13 edge in the all-time series between the two programs, UNCG has won the last five head-to-head meetings dating back to a 14-7 win on May 20, 2017. That winning streak marks the second-longest by either team in the all-time series, two shy of Samford's seven-game streak that spanned from March 28, 2009 to April 22, 2011.
-Both Josh Madole and Caleb Webster saw their hitting streaks come to an end in the setback to Campbell on Tuesday, April 16th.
Madole, who was tied with Coleman Sawyer for the longest UNCG hitting streak of the season (15 games), finished 0-for-3 from the plate against the Fighting Camels. It was his last hitless performance since going 0-for-3 against Jacksonville on March 17th.
Webster, who took a seven-game hitting streak into the meeting with Campbell, was 0-for-2 from the plate with an RBI and a run scored due in large part to a pair of walks and a sacrifice fly. The junior infielder was enjoying his longest hitting streak of the campaign, after putting together a six-game streak (March 9-March 16) and a five-game streak (March 23-March 30) earlier this season.
The longest hitting streak of the season again belongs to Greg Hardison, who has missed the last 11 games after sustaining an injury against Wake Forest (March 26).
-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).