May. 1, 2005

Final Stats

Greensboro, N.C. - Clay Gibson pitched four effective innings in relief to help UNC Greensboro pull out a 6-5 victory over Western Carolina Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Catamounts, who won the weekend series, had a chance in the top of the ninth, but with one on and two outs, a Jared Greenwood shot to center was caught on the warning track to give the Spartans the win.

Gibson pitched the final four innings improve to 3-0 on the season. He only allowed two hits and two walks, while striking out three.

For the first time this series, the Spartans (24-17 overall, 11-10 Southern Conference) took the early lead. After a one-out triple by Greg Feltes, Jeremy Roulin came through with a sacrifice fly to center field, putting the 1-0 through three complete innings. UNCG kept the momentum scoring three runs in the fourth. With one out, Jay Maule had an infield single and moved to third on a single to center by David Adams. Mike Mongiello followed with a single to center as well, driving in Maule. Adam Deleo welcomed new WCU pitcher Derrick Hawk with a two run double to right field. However Hawk would gets a pair of strikeouts to limit he damage.

Western (24-19, 12-12 SoCon) got on the board in the top of the fifth. A one out single followed by a single to right put Trey McDaniel on third. Brandon Zollman plated WCU's first run with a single down the left field line. The Cats then trimmed their deficit to one (4-3). With Nate Hall on second due to a walk and Zollman on first, Jonathan Greene lifted a fly ball to deep right field, which was dropped allowing two runs to score.

UNCG answered with a run in the home half of the fifth to make the score 5-3. Despite Hawk striking out the side, Maule sandwiched a solo homer between K's, his second homer of the series and sixth of the season.

The Catamounts rebounded with three straight hits to start the sixth and chase UNCG starter Patrick Currin. Tim Hallam strated things with a single to center and scored on Jared Greenwood's RBI double to left-center field. Steven Strausbaugh then extended his hitting streak to 11 games o put runners on first and third and no outs. The Spartans looked to escape with the lead intact after Gibson came on to strikeout the first two batters he faced. Then, with a 1-2 count on Hall, the freshman lined a single back up the middle to drive in Greenwood and tie the game at 5-5.

The back-and-forth game continued in the bottom of the sixth as the Spartans got two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. Jeremy Roulin put UNCG up one (6-5) with an RBI fielder's choice. Hawk then got a pop out and a ground out to keep it a one-run ballgame.

Luke Miller silenced the Spartan bats in the seventh and eight innings, allowing just one hit in his two innings. Hawk (1-2) suffered the loss, allowing four hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts.

In the top of the ninth, Greene had a leadoff single for Western and was lifted for pinch runner Chris Ahearn. Barrett Shaft moved the runner up with a sacrifice bunt. After a ground out, Greenwood nearly did some damage, but came up just short.

Western Carolina will take the next five days off for exams, returning to SoCon action Saturday, Sunday and Monday versus Elon in a potential battle for third place. Saturday and Sunday's games are set for 7:00 pm at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium., while Monday's game will begin at 1:00 pm.