UNCG downs ETSU at SoCon Baseball Championship

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Third-seeded UNCG won a back-and-forth battle against No. 7 seed ETSU, 6-4, Friday at the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field. With the win, the Spartans reach the semifinals of the tournament for the first time since 2008.

One of just two unbeaten teams remaining in the tournament, UNCG (33-21) will take on No. 4 seed Furman on Saturday at noon. The winner of that contest advances to Sunday's title game, while the loser will play an elimination game at 7 p.m. Saturday.

ETSU (28-28) drops into the losers' bracket and will face No. 9 seed VMI in an elimination game Friday at 7 p.m.

The Spartans were paced at the plate by Ben Spitznagel, Caleb Webster and Ryan Clinch, who each went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Clinch and Michael Goss (1-for-5) had two RBIs each.

ETSU got two-hit games from Chris Cook and Hunter Parker, while Jammer Strickland drove in a pair of runs.

The Spartans struck for a pair of first-inning runs on Goss' two-run single, but ETSU got a run back on Cook's RBI double in the third and then took the lead on Strickland's two-run double an inning later.

The teams traded runs in the fifth before UNCG went ahead to stay on Clinch's two-run single in the sixth. The Spartans gave themselves some breathing room on Cesar Trejo's solo homer, his 10th round-tripper of the year, to left center in the eighth.

ETSU reliever Connor Bartow struck out Goss with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth to give the Bucs one last chance for a rally, but after Parker and Cook led off the bottom of the frame with singles, Jack Maynard was summoned from the UNCG bullpen and got a popup and then a double-play grounder off the bat of All-SoCon catcher Hagen Owenby to end the game and earn his second save of the year.

Clinch's fifth-inning triple was UNCG's school-record 33rd of the season. The Spartans lead NCAA Division in triples this year.

The Bucs made some school history of their own, as the six pitchers they employed combined to strike out nine batters and pushed their season total to a school-record 438.

Andrew Wantz (6-4), the third of four UNCG pitchers on the afternoon, earned the win with 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed three hits and walked one. Maynard was credited with one inning pitched despite facing only two batters.

Griffin Krieg (2-6), ETSU's third pitcher of the day, took the loss after surrendering two runs on one hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning.

The SoCon Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases continues Friday with top-seeded Mercer facing No. 6 seed Samford in an elimination game at approximately 3:50 p.m.

May 23 (Tuesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: #9 VMI 8, #8 The Citadel 0

May 24 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 2: #4 Furman 13, #5 Wofford 3 (7 innings)
Game 3: #1 Mercer 11, #9 VMI 6
Game 4: #7 ETSU 8, #2 Western Carolina 6

May 25 (Thursday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 5: #3 UNCG 6, #6 Samford 3
Game 6: #9 VMI 6, #5 Wofford 5 (10 innings)
Game 7: #6 Samford 6, #2 Western Carolina 1
Game 8: #4 Furman 6, #1 Mercer 1

May 26 (Friday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 9: #3 UNCG 6, #7 ETSU 4
Game 10: #6 Samford vs. #1 Mercer 3:50 p.m.
Game 11: #9 VMI vs. #7 ETSU 7 p.m.

May 27 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 12: #4 Furman vs. #3 UNCG 12 p.m.
Game 13: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11 3:30 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 13 vs. Loser Game 12 7 p.m.

May 28 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN3)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 15: Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 14 12 p.m.
^Game 16: Winner Game 15 vs. Loser Game 15 40 minutes after Game 15

^ if necessary

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