Baseball sweeps Albany to stay undefeated at home

Greg Smith earned his first win of the season after throwing five innings of four hit ball, and only allowing one run in the Spartans 8-4 Friday night victory over the University of Albany. Smith came into the game in the third inning after starter Matt Parish lasted only 2 2/3 innings before Warren Slack got the final out in the third inning.

UNCG used a five run third inning to overcome an early 3-1 Albany advantage and secure a lead that would last for the remainder of the game. After a Corey Overholtzer walk started the inning, Ed Jayjack ripped a ball deep into right field that, combined with the wind and sun, forced the Great Dane outfielder to miss the ball and allowed Overholtzer to advance to third and Jayjack stopped at second with a double.

Ray Quinones followed the double with a line drive up the middle to score Overholtzer, and Zach Leach did the same to drive in Jayjack. Following an error by the Albany pitcher on a Chris Barker bunt, Eric Brindle drove the ball through the middle of the infield and gave the Spartans the final two runs in the inning.

The five run outburst would be all UNCG would need, although they would add two more in the fifth inning, as Greg Smith proved very effective allowing only four hits and three walks while striking out four batters. Matt Parish started the game for UNCG but ran into trouble in the third inning, walking two straight batters after getting the first two Great Danes to ground out. A fielding error by the Spartans allowed the second Albany player of the game to score, and a hit to left field gave the Danes their early 3-1 lead.

Head Coach Mike Gaski elected to go to the bullpen and brought in Junior Warren Slack who threw only five pitches before forcing a groundout to the third baseman to end the inning. That would be the only work on the day for Slack, as Smith relieved him in the fourth inning and went strong until running into a trouble in the eighth inning.

After retiring the first two Albany batters, Smith hit one batter and walked another. The Great Danes looked as if they would get right back in the game when Brian Bullard skied a double to right center that was just short of leaving the ball park. One runner scored on the play, but a quick relay from Drew Gehringer to Ray Quinones into Ed Jayjack at catcher caught the trail runner for the Great Danes ended the inning and the threat from Albany. Tyler Hollstegge closed the game out for the Spartans with a three up and three down inning.

Eric Brindle led the Spartans at the plate with two hits and four RBI, Ed Jayjack and Ray Quinones also provided two hits a-piece for UNCG. Zach Leach, Chris Barker, and John Cucchiarella would add the other three hits for the Spartans for their total of nine in the game.

On Saturday the Spartans would draw 18 walks on their way to an 11-5 victory over the Great Danes. Blake Hassebrock pitched 4 shutout innings while only giving up two hits. Leadoff hitters Gehringer and Overholtzer drew a combined 7 walks.

UNCG used an 8-run seventh inning to bust open the final game and complete the sweep of the Albany Great Danes 13-1 on Sunday. Warren Slack picked up the win in one of the better pitching performances for the Spartans on the young season.

Slack became the first Spartans starter to last more than three innings this year and earned his first win of the 2010 season. The Junior out of High Point lasted five innings surrendering one run on five hits and struck out four Albany hitters. Colby Hyatt came in and threw four innings of scoreless relief work allowing only two hits in securing the second sweep in as many series for the Spartans.

Corey Overholtzer led the Spartans at the plate going 3 for 4 with two singles and a double, scoring three times in the game. Ed Jayjack, Lloyd Enzor, and Zach Leach all scored twice for UNCG, including four times in the seventh inning outburst. Enzor went 2 for 3 on the day with two RBI and the transfer from Southeastern Community College hit his second home run of the season.

Albany jumped out to an early 1-0 lead before the Spartans answered with two runs in the third inning on the Enzor homerun to score Overholtzer and give the Spartans the lead for good. UNCG would add to the lead in the fifth with two more runs, and would widen the gap tremendously in the seventh.

Corey Overholtzer doubled to begin the inning, and following a throwing error by the Great Danes, Ed Jayjack walked to load the bases. Another error by Albany allowed Overholtzer to score before Leach doubled to clear the bases and break open the game giving UNCG a 7-run lead. The Spartans would add four more runs in the inning after Chris Barker singled to drive in Leach, and later the Spartans would load the bases for the second time in the inning. Another Great Dane error allowed UNCG to plate another run, before Kris Richards singled to drive in the final two runs of the inning.

The Spartans would add one more run in the eighth inning on a wild pitch to stretch the final margin to 13-1. The victory improved the Spartans overall record against Albany to 15-1 with the lone loss occurring in 2006. UNCG will hit the road on Wednesday to take on NC State before returning home to play Army in a weekend set in Greensboro.