GREENSBORO, N.C. - Facing this year's preseason SoCon favorite, UNCG baseball was unable to clinch a decision in Saturday's doubleheader against Samford, falling to the visiting Bulldogs by finals of 6-1 and 12-5. Spartan leadoff man Corey Rosier extended his hitting streak to six straight games while collecting four hits over his team's two losses, while Greg Hardison had a three-knock day in his return to the UNCG lineup. 

A pair of defensive errors proved to be the difference maker in game one. Samford was first on the board in the third inning, plating three unearned runs in combination with a trio of hits. The visitors drove in two more during the fourth to go ahead by five runs, with the Spartans getting their first run of the afternoon during the fifth. 

Pres Cavenaugh put the lead man on for the Spartans in the home half of the fifth on a double to center field, advancing to third on a groundout in the following at bat. The redshirt freshman scored on an RBI single from Robbie O'Neal for the Spartans' lone run of game one, with the final reading 6-1 in favor of the Bulldogs.

While the Spartans got off to a rough start defensively, Price King turned in his best performance as a Spartan to date during game one, coming on with one out in the fourth. The lefty set a pair of UNCG career-highs with four strikeouts over his 5.2 innings of play. He gave up just a single run while spraying five hits and a single walk over his time on the bump. 

Corey Rosier turned in his fourth three-hit performance of the season in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, while Greg Hardison, Josh Madole, Cavenaugh and O'Neal all tallied a pair of knocks. The Spartans were outhit just 12-11, but it wasn't the side's ability to get on base that was lacking in the early contest. UNCG hit in seven of nine innings during game one, but was unable to group enough together to come back from the Bulldogs' early lead. 

In game two it would be Samford that made the early mistakes to provide their opponent an opportunity at an early lead. Hogan Windish gave the Spartans the lead man on with a five-pitch walk in the second, before coming home on back-to-back singles from Zack Budzik and Dallas Callahan. It would be a passed ball and a fielding error that doubled the home team's lead however, as UNCG took a 2-0 advantage into the third. 

Another lead off walk in that following inning led to a third run for the Spartans, as Cavenaugh came around on a Windish single and a Madole sac fly. 

The Bulldogs responded immediately however, starting the top half of the fourth with four straight knocks to tie it at three runs apiece. Two more hits and the Spartans' third and fourth errors of the day tacked on two more for the visitors to give Samford the go-ahead advantage.

The Bulldogs put up crooked numbers in the sixth, seventh and eighth to make it 12-3, before the Spartans scored a pair in the bottom of the eighth. 

Tom Grose collected a two-out single in a pinch hit situation while Rosier's fourth hit of the afternoon extended his own hitting streak to six games, and moved Grose over to third. The outfielder put himself in scoring position with a stolen base, with both he and Grose coming across on a Cavenaugh single.

Those two runs would be the last of the Spartans' night however, as the Bulldogs closed out game two on a 12-5 final to clinch this weekend's series.

>>> Cavenaugh finished 3-for-6 (.500) on the day, while driving in a pair of runs and drawing three walks against Samford in game two. He's on a three-game hitting streak, going 5-for-10 (.500) with a double, a home run and four RBI in that span
>>> Rosier extends his hitting streak to six games on Saturday and has reached safely in each of his last 11 appearances. He is hitting 22-for-46 (.478) during that 11-game stretch, leading the Spartans with a .382 average for the year
>>> Outfielder Greg Hardison returned to the UNCG lineup for the first time since March 2nd. He tallied three hits over his two starts against the Bulldogs on Saturday

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