March 10, 2002
Final Stats
Greensboro, N.C. -
UNCG freshman Ryan Galligan went 3-for-4 with a home run to lead the Spartans to an 11-8 victory over Western Carolina Sunday afternoon at UNCG Baseball Stadium. With the win, UNC Greensboro (9-4, 2-1 SoCon) wins the three-game series versus the Catamounts (8-6, 2-1 SoCon).
Western Carolina opened the scoring with an RBI single by Todd Buchanan in the first, but the Spartans answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. After Justin Lee scored on Kirk Strebin's RBI ground out, Jason Sarvis laced a run scoring triple down the right-field line.
The Catamounts wasted little time and responded with four runs in the top of the third inning. Western Carolina took advantage of some poor defense. Chris Davis led off with a single and Rod Goldston followed with a double. After Ryan Shade singled in Davis, an error by third basemen Nick Lockhart allowed two more runs to score, both unearned.
Despite the deficit, UNCG battled back for the second consecutive day. The Spartans scored three runs in the bottom of the third, two runs in the fifth and put the game away with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
UNCG was able to survive some poor defense. The Spartans committed five errors and allowed five unearned runs. Despite the defensive mishaps, the Spartan pitching staff was pretty solid. Matt Tomlin started for UNCG and tossed 3.1 innings and gave up seven runs, but only three earned, on six hits. After Jonathan Tapper pitched 0.1 innings, Michael Gulledge and Chris Cloninger tossed the final 5.1 innings of work.
Gulledge (3-0) limited the Catamounts to no earned runs on just three hits in 3.2 innings. The right-hander collected the victory in Saturday's game as well. Cloninger, who started on Saturday, tossed the final 1.2 innings and struck out three to pick up his first save of the season.
While Western Carolina started Seth Foster, who entered the game with a 3-0 record and 0.96 ERA, UNCG racked up seven hits and seven runs against the right handed hurler. Foster really struggled with control. The junior walked four and hit three more. Two of those hit batters came on consecutive at bats with the bases loaded to allow UNCG to tie the game in the third.
UNCG put the game away with its four-run seventh inning. After Lockhart struckout to lead off the inning, Jesse Martin followed with a double and Justin Lee singled to give the Spartans the lead, 8-7. Galligan followed with a single and Jay Maule doubled to deep center field to score Lee. UNCG closed the scoring on a Jason Sarvis single and Ryan Gordon ground out.
On the day, UNCG pounded out 14 hits. Sarvis went 4-for-4 with two RBI, including his third triple of the season. Lee was 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored, while Martin went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored.
For Western, Davis, a freshman second baseman, went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, while Brian Sigmon and Goldston each collected two hits. Dan Foley (0-1) was saddled with the loss, giving up four runs on five hits in 1.1 innings.
Western Carolina will stay in Greensboro to face North Carolina A&T on Tuesday (Mar. 12). Game time at War memorial Stadium is set for 3:00 pm. On Wednesday, the Catamounts will play at Wake Forest, currently ranked 16th nationally, at 1:30 pm.