SPARTANBURG, S.C. - In a contest that lasted 12 innings, had seven lead changes and more than two dozen runs, UNCG baseball was felled in a walk-off 13-12 final at Wofford to open this weekend's series. Redshirt-freshman
Pres Cavenaugh went 4-for-6 at the plate while driving in four runs and collecting a pair of home runs, as
Hogan Windish and
Josh Madole tallied three and two knocks respectively.
The Spartans and Terriers traded shots in the opening frame, with UNCG gathering its first run of the night in the top half.
Josh Madole led off the contest with a double, before
Hogan Windish's two-out single brought in the first baseman.
Wofford retaliated immediately in the home half. An early Spartan defensive error came back to bite the visitors with the Terriers scoring a pair of unearned runs to take their first lead of the night.
The home team expanded their lead in the second, hanging three runs on two hits and another Spartan error.
UNCG evened things up in the fourth, loading the bases on three straight singles from Windish,
Pres Cavenaugh and
Spencer Smith. A
Dallas Callahan walk doubled the Spartan run total, but it was
Daniel Cerda's first career double as a Spartan that cleared the bases and tied things at five runs apiece.
The Terriers responded once again with three runs in the bottom half, plating their trio on three hits and a walk in the frame.
Trailing 8-5, Cavenaugh put his side back within a run in the fifth, following Windish's fielder's choice with a two-run no-doubter over the right field wall.
The Spartans experienced their first lead of the night during the seventh, but saw it dissappear almost immediately after two more Wofford runs came across in the bottom half. UNCG started a two-out rally in the visiting half of the inning, as
Corey Rosier extended his hitting streak to six games with a double to right. Windish delivered his third knock of the day in the following at bat with an RBI single to score Rosier, while Cavenaugh's third knock gave the Spartans a 9-8 edge.
After seeing the home side retake a 10-9 advantage in the bottom of the seventh, the Spartans added two more in the eighth.
Sam Koruschak led the inning off with a double to give the Spartans a base runner in every spot in the order, with Madole driving in his team's 10th run on a single. Cerda would score to regain the UNCG advantage 11-10, coming home on a
Greg Hardison squeeze bunt after drawing a walk earlier in the frame.
The two sides traded shots over the next three frames. Wofford evened things in the eighth, but Cavenaugh tallied his second homer of the contest while sending his fifth long ball of the year on a solo shot to right. The Terriers continued to annoy the Spartan pitching staff in the bottom of the ninth however, erasing UNCG's fourth lead of the night to force extras.
Coming on in the eighth,
Brandon Stephens supplied four innings of quality relief but got stuck with the loss as Wofford earned the walk-off win in the bottom of the 12th. Stephens struck out four while spraying seven Terrier hits across his four frames, but the home team took the one-game advantage in the series 13-12 with a walk-off single.
>>> Cavenaugh's four hits are a new career-high, while his three runs tied a career best and his four RBI came one short of the five he drove in at North Carolina A&T earlier in the year
>>> While Rosier hit in his sixth straight game, his run of multi-knock performances came to an end at four after delivering just one against Wofford on Friday night. The outfielder has crossed home in each of his last three games
>>> Windish drove in a pair of runs while crossing home three times himself, going 3-for-6 at the plate. He's touched first in each of his last eight appearances
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