GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG baseball team begins a 13-day, seven-game road trip on Tuesday, April 30th, when it heads to North Carolina's Queen City to take on Charlotte at 6 p.m.
The Spartans (26-15, 8-7 SoCon) take a four-game winning streak into the contest, dating back to a 9-8 victory at Elon on Tuesday, April 23rd. UNCG has outscored its opponents 39-26 in the last four games, scoring at least eight runs in three of those outings.
Charlotte (16-26-1) has won two of its last three games, earning a series victory over Conference USA rival FIU over the weekend in Miami, Fla. Prior to that the 49ers dropped five straight, including setbacks to Gardner-Webb, Southern Miss and Wake Forest in succession.
The two schools have met on 19 occasions since March 11, 1991, with the 49ers holding a 12-7 edge in the all-time series. That includes winning all seven contests that have taken place in Charlotte.
UNCG, which is 4-9 on the road this season, will send right-handed freshman hurler Collin Best (0-0, 4.35 ERA) to the mound for his third start of the season. Best also made starts against Princeton (March 10) and High Point (April 3) this season, both of which resulted in no decisions. The outing against the Panthers on April 3rd marked the longest outing of the season for Best, who logged 3.2 innings, allowed five hits, three runs and finished with a single-game season-high four strikeouts.
Charlotte, which is 12-15 at Robert and Mariam Hayes Stadium in 2019, has not named its starter at this time.
UNCG vs. Charlotte Quick Notes
-UNCG and Charlotte have gone head-to-head on 19 occasions with the 49ers holding a 12-7 edge in the all-time series. The last two meetings between the two programs, which took place on Feb. 28, 2014 and April 3, 2018, came under the direction of current Spartan head coach Link Jarrett, resulting in a split. Charlotte has hosted the Spartans on six occasions, most recently on March 19, 2002, winning all six contests.
-UNCG, which has now had double-digit hits in five of its last six games, has seven players with at least 10 multi-hit performances on the season. They include Caleb Webster (15 games), Josh Madole (14), Jacquez Koonce (13), Zach Kuchmaner (12), Austin Embler (11), Ryan Caveness (10) and Hogan Windish (10).
-The pair of Chad Sykes and Corey Jackson have proved to be one of the best bullpen duos in the Southern Conference in 2019. While they rank atop the UNCG staff they also are among the top hurlers nationally. Sykes is ranks in five major categories including ERA, where he is first with a 0.65, 36th in hits allowed per nine innings (5.83), 52nd in strikeouts per nine innings (11.45), 60th in saves (seven) and 68th in WHIP (1.03). Jackson is 35th in appearances (23), 103rd in strikeouts per nine innings (10.54) and 105th in hits allowed per nine innings (6.80).
-Five Spartans currently share the longest current hitting streak (four games)—Zack Budzik, Austin Embler, Zach Kuchmaner, Jacquez Koonce and Caleb Webster.
-UNCG hurler Colin Best is making his third start of the season for the Spartans when he takes to the mound against Charlotte on Tuesday evening. He also started against Princeton (March 10) and High Point (April 3), earning no decisions after logging 3.1 and 3.2 innings, respectively.
-Slugger Zach Kuchmaner leads the way for the Spartan lineup in triples with four, which has him ranked 34th nationally and second in the Southern Conference in that category.
ON DECK FOR UNCG
UNCG continues its road swing this weekend when the Spartans head to Johnson City, Tenn., for a three-game series against Southern Conference foe East Tennessee State. The first game of the series begins at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 3rd, followed by a 2 p.m. game on Saturday and the final game of the set on Sunday, May 5th at 1 p.m.
