GREENSBORO -- Now comes the homestretch, the final third of the regular season when every game matters more than the one before.
UNCG (18-14 overall, 3-3 SoCon) hits the road for a three-game weekend series at second-place Chattanooga (9-18, 5-3 SoCon), a matchup of contenders in the Southern Conference at Frost Stadium. The Spartans and Mocs play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday, followed by a single game at 2 p.m. Sunday.
UNCG, the league's preseason favorite, plays 12 of its final 14 games against SoCon opponents.
The Spartans feature a potent offense. They've hit a league-high 55 home runs and rank seventh in the nation with an average of 1.72 HRs per game.
Senior center fielder
Makenna Matthijs has played in all 32 of UNCG's games. She comes in batting .327 with seven doubles and eight home runs, and she leads the SoCon with both 29 runs scored and 28 RBIs.
Senior second baseman
Jasmine Palmer is batting .344 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs, and she ranks third in the league with a .474 on-base percentage. Junior outfielder
Jordan Gontram has a league-high nine home runs and 23 RBIs, and sophomore infielder
Maycin Brown ranks third in the league with a .357 batting average and second with a .657 slugging percentage.
Sophomore right-hander
Morgan Scott (9-7, 2.75 ERA) leads the league and ranks 28th in the country with 126 strikeouts in 102 innings. Freshman right-hander
Alina Varga (7-0, 4.17 ERA) returned and worked two innings Wednesday after missing 17 days of the season.
Chattanooga, meanwhile, has won five of its last eight games, all against SoCon competition to surge into second place.
Senior outfielder Hayleigh Weissenbach leads the Mocs' offense, batting .333 with nine extra-base hits and 14 RBIs. She's struck out just three times in 27 games.
Junior infielder Emily Coltharp is batting .307, and freshman Kailey Snell hits .301 with 10 RBIs.
Chattanooga has used six pitchers this season, with juniors Hannah Wood (5-5, 3.24 ERA) and Brooke Parrott (3-6, 5.03) leading the staff in appearances, innings and strikeouts.
UNCG hosts East Carolina on Wednesday, April 21in its next contest.
