GREENSBORO, N.C. (April 21, 2016) – Coming off a historic non-conference win Wednesday night at Eastern Kentucky, the ETSU baseball team returns to Southern Conference play this weekend as the Bucs open a three-game series at UNCG Friday night at UNCG Baseball Stadium. 

GAME TIMES/PITCHING MATCHUP

Friday – 6 p.m. – Game No. 37

RHP Victor Gonzalez (3-0, 6.53) vs. RHP Hunter Smith (5-1, 4.72) 

Saturday – 2 p.m. – Game No. 38

RHP Lee Haeberle (3-1, 6.62) vs. RHP Keaton Haack (2-1, 3.18) 

Sunday – 1 p.m. – Game No. 39

RHP Blake Smith (3-4, 5.17) vs. RHP Matt Frisbee (3-2, 3.73) 

ABOUT THE BUCS

ETSU (16-20, 3-6 SoCon) snapped its seven-game losing skid following a 17-8 win at Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night … The Bucs set a program record for runs scored in an inning by plating 13 runs on 11 hits in the fifth inning. 

Overall, all nine Buccaneer starters registered at least one hit and one run in the nine-run victory against the Colonels, while ETSU homered for the third straight game … The Blue and Gold scored double-digit runs for the 10th time and double-digit hits for the 23rd time this season … As a group, ETSU pounded out 16 hits on the night … The Bucs have totaled 128 of their 399 hits over the last 10 games. 

Senior Trey York (Knoxville, Tenn.) drove in five of his career-high seven RBI in the fifth, while going 3-for-6 with a double, home run and two runs scored … The 7-RBI performance was one shy of tying ETSU’s single-game record … Following his three-hit game, York is 13 hits shy of 200 for his career … Sophomore Aaron Maher (Brentwood, Tenn.) also homered in the 13-run fifth inning and drove in three runs. 

Senior Jeremy Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) ranks among NCAA Division I active career leaders in at-bats (3rd, 830), runs (6th, 157), stolen bases (11th, 66), hits (15th, 230) and games played (15th, 203) … York is also among the same group in triples (7th, 13), total bases (22nd, 316), runs (23rd, 134) and RBI (48th, 112). 

Maher brings a 10-game hit streak into this weekend’s series, while Lance Mays (Ridgely, Tenn.), Blake Rowlett (Clarksville, Tenn.), Robby McCabe (New Port Richey, Fla.), Jeremy Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) and Hagen Owenby (Knoxville, Tenn.) all carry on-base streaks of 10 games or more into the series … Mays has reached in 21 straight games, Rowlett in 16 games, McCabe in 12, Taylor in 11 and Owenby and Maher have reached safely in 10 consecutive contests. 

As a team, ETSU ranks third nationally in home runs per game (1.36), fifth in slugging percentage (.504) and home runs (49), 21st in scoring (7.7), 23rd in hits (399) and batting average (.308), 28th in runs (276) and 29th in doubles (79). 

Sophomore Ryan Simpler (Lewes, Del.) needs two more innings to reach 100 career innings pitched and is also five strikeouts shy of career number 100 … Simpler ranks fourth in the SoCon in opposing batting average against (.229). 

ABOUT UNCG

UNCG has won 17 of its last 23 games and enter this weekend’s series at 28-11, 7-2 … The Spartans are tied with league-leading Western Carolina in the loss column, but are percentage points behind the Catamounts.

The Spartans are receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top-30 Poll. 

The Spartans are 19-1 at home with the lone loss coming on March 6 against Army (6-4) … UNCG has won its last 12 home games and the Spartans haven’t lost a home SoCon game since May 2, 2015 (Wofford). 

UNCG leads the country in batting average (.361), hits (514), doubles (104), on-base percentage (.441), scoring (9.4), and slugging percentage (.548). 

Individually, the Spartans have four players ranked in the top-10 in hits, three in the top-10 in runs, three in the top-25 in RBI and three in the top-30 in batting average … Junior utility player Ben Spitznagel leads all Division I players in hits (70), while he and Dillon Stewart are tied for fourth in runs (48) and Collin Woody ranks fifth in RBI (52) … Spitznagel also ranks ninth in batting average (.429), while L.J. Kalawai is 24th (.411) and Andrew Moritz is 30th (.408). 

Sophomore right-hander Andrew Wantz is 5-0 with a 2.13 ERA (12 ER/50.2 IP) in 20 appearances (one start) … Wantz leads the SoCon in opposing batting average against (.188) and ranks second in ERA and strikeouts (64), while Sunday starter Matt Frisbee is fourth in ERA (3.73) … Wantz and Friday night starter Hunter Smith are tied for second in the conference in wins (5). 

SERIES HISTORY

UNCG took two of three from ETSU in Johnson City last season and leads the all-time series, 21-12. 

This weekend marks the first meeting between the two programs in Greensboro since March 25-27, 2005 when ETSU took two of three from the Spartans. 

Last year, the Bucs were outscored by two runs, 18-16, while 15 of UNCG’s 33 hits went for extra bases – seven doubles, two triples and six home runs … Trey York was 6-for-13 (.462) with one triple, two home runs, two runs and five RBI in the series, while right-hander Dillon Cate (Sevierville, Tenn.) tossed two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to earn the 5-3 win in the series finale. 

COVERAGE

All three games this weekend will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network, while live stats will be available via UNCGSpartans.com. 

Live updates will also be available via Twitter by following @ETSU_Baseball. 

WHAT’S AHEAD?

ETSU wraps up its season-long nine-game road swing Tuesday night at Radford … First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at the Radford Baseball Stadium. 

TEXTCASTER

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