GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) baseball team earned an 8-7 victory over Fairfield after posting five runs in the second inning on Saturday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Fairfield's catcher Ethan Hubbard grounded out to the Spartans' Aidan Brewer at shortstop giving Paul Catalano time to run home for the first tally of the game, 1-0.
 
In the bottom half of the first inning, the Spartans got busy on offense. With Zachary Walsh on second base, Caleb Cozart stepped up to plate and crushed an 0-1 count over the right center wall for his second home run of the season giving UNCG the advantage (2-1). With runners on first and third, Brewer grounded out to the pitcher, scoring Matt Venuto from third base (3-1).

Sammy Tortorella continued working on the mound for the Spartans in the second inning, leaving the Stags scoreless with two runners left on base.
 
In UNCG's half of the second inning, the squad recorded five runs. With Brantley Truitt on second base and Jeremy Wolf on third, Cozart doubled out to left field to give the Spartans two runs (5-1). The third run of the inning for the Spartans came from a fielding error off the Stags' shortstop, sending Jake Ogden to first base and scoring Cozart (6-1). UNCG scored again in the inning off a single through the left side of the field from Brewer to score Venuto. The final score of the inning and final run of the day for the Spartans came off a hit by pitch with bases loaded, sending Wolf to first base and scoring Ogden for UNCG to take an 8-1 lead over the Stags heading to the third inning.
 
Fairfield was able to chip away in each inning earning one run in the third, fifth, seventh, eighth and two runs in the sixth coming back within one heading to the ninth inning (8-7). Grant Aycock led the Spartans on the mound in the final 2.2 innings, only giving up one run for UNCG to claim the 8-7 win over Fairfield.

NOTES:

• Tortorella, Dear and Aycock earned a combined total of 11 strikeouts in the game on the mound.
• Cozart led the Spartans with four RBI, earning a .429 batting average on the day. 
• Cozart and Venuto led UNCG with two runs apiece.
• UNCG recorded 27 putouts to Fairfield's 24.

PITCHING RECORDS:
Mayson Dear: 1-0
Brown Baker, 0-1
 
Records:
UNCG: 2-0
Fairfield: 0-2
 
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UP NEXT
The Spartans will close out its weekend series with Fairfield on Sunday, Feb. 18 at noon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. All regular season home games at the UNCG Baseball Stadium are free admission.