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UNCG tops Wofford twice to win SoCon Baseball Championship
Spartans earn wins of 10-2, 12-2 to claim first SoCon title since 2017
UNCG 12, Wofford 2 (7 inn.)
GREENVILLE, S.C. — UNCG totaled 12 runs on 14 hits, including four home runs, scoring in five of seven innings to clinch a 12-2 victory over top-seeded Wofford and claim the title Sunday at the 2022 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Flour Field. The tournament title was the Spartans’ first since 2017.
The Spartans (34-28), who tallied four runs in the third, three in the fourth and sixth and one in the fifth and seventh innings, claimed the SoCon’s automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals for the first time in the last five years and will learn their postseason fate on Monday, May 30, at 12 p.m. ET, when the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Selection Show airs on ESPN2.
Wofford finishes the tournament with a seasonal record of 42-16-1 under head coach Todd Interdonato, the SoCon Coach of the Year, and reached the title game for the first time since 2019.
Kennedy Jones, who won the Walt Nadzak Award as the Most Outstanding Player, was 1-for-5 with one run scored and one RBI in the win and finished the tournament with a .432 average, going 16-for-37 over seven games. Jones set tournament records with 16 hits, 17 RBIs, 37 at-bats and 33 total bases and matched the tournament record with five home runs. He also became UNCG’s single-season RBI record-holder with 73 on the season.
The game was scoreless through the first two innings, with Jones starting off the third with a single to right field before Hogan Windish, Pres Cavenaugh and Mitchell Smith hit back-to-back-to-back home runs, handing the Spartans the 4-0 advantage.
The Spartans added three more runs in the fourth inning, with Bradley Bott hitting a line-drive single to the pitcher before Windish knocked a 416-foot two-run home run over the left center field fence, his second of the contest, extending UNCG’s lead to 6-0. Cavenaugh followed Windish’s at-bat with a single to left field and crossed the plate in the end of the frame for the Spartans’ final run of the inning, scoring off a Wofford fielding error to hand the Spartans a seven-run lead.
After trailing 7-0 entering the bottom of the frame, the Terriers broke out with two runs on two hits, with Ryan Galanie reaching on a throwing error before Jack Renwick slashed a double to left field, driving in Galanie to collect Wofford’s first run of the game. Trey Yunger followed with an RBI single through the right side, advancing Renwick to home to cut the Terriers’ deficit to 7-2.
UNCG added five more runs on five hits in the final three innings of the contest. The Spartans took advantage of a hit by pitch and a throwing error in the fifth before Jones hit an RBI groundout to first base, driving in Zack Budzik for the 8-2 advantage. After Smith, Greg Hardison and Dallas Callahan started off the sixth inning with three consecutive singles to left field, the Spartans saw GC Jarman reach base on a fielder’s choice, Budzik hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Bott knock a single down the left field line, with all three batters driving in one run each as UNCG’s lead ballooned to 11-2. Smith started off the seventh reaching base on a fielding error before Hardison laced a double down the left-field line to make it a 12-2 contest.
Smith went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, one home run and one RBI to pace the Spartans at the plate, while Windish went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, two home runs and four RBIs. Five of nine UNCG batters registered two or more hits in the win.
Lawson Hill, Galanie, Hester, Renwick and Yunger all went 1-for 3 to lead the Terriers at the plate, while six of nine Wofford batters tallied a hit in the contest. With his single in the fifth inning, Hill recorded the 300th hit of his career to become the first Terrier to ever reach that benchmark and just the 15th player in SoCon history.
Spartans starting pitcher Hunter Shuey, who pitched all seven innings for UNCG, tossed three scoreless innings in the final three frames to prevent the Terriers from cutting into the lead. The Hamburg, Pennsylvania, native, allowed two unearned runs on six hits and recorded four strikeouts in the contest, improving to 2-2 on the season with the win.
Wofford’s Dalton Rhadans (7-4) took the loss for the Terriers, allowing six runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings of work. Holden Wilder, Luke Stephens and Lucas Mahlstedt also took the mound for Wofford in the contest, with Wilder allowing two unearned runs on one hit and recording one strikeout in 2/3 of an inning of action, Stephens allowing three runs on four hits and recording two strikeouts in two innings of action and Mahlstedt allowing only one hit in his one inning of work.
UNCG’s Alex Hoppe, a senior right-handed pitcher, earned the Pinnacle Award as the student-athlete with the highest GPA on the championship-winning team.
2022 Southern Conference Championship All-Tournament Team
SP – Price King, UNCG
SP – Matthew Marchal, Wofford
RP – Jackson Kelley, Mercer
C – Dallas Callahan, UNCG
1B – Greg Hardison, UNCG
2B – Garrett Staton, Samford
SS – Zack Budzik, UNCG
3B – Zach Ketterman, Western Carolina
OF – Pres Cavenaugh, UNCG
OF – Kennedy Jones, UNCG
OF – Colton Ledbetter, Samford
DH – Brennen Dorighi, Wofford
Walt Nadzak Most Outstanding Player
Kennedy Jones, Fr., OF, UNCG
Pinnacle Award (highest GPA on championship-winning team)
Alex Hoppe, Sr., RHP, UNCG
May 25 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: #8 The Citadel 3, #5 ETSU 1
Game 2: #6 Western Carolina 4, #7 VMI 1
Game 3: #4 UNCG 7, #8 The Citadel 6
Game 4: #3 Samford 22, #6 Western Carolina 3 (7 inn.)
May 27 (Friday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 5: #1 Wofford 6, #4 UNCG 3
Game 6: #3 Samford 13, #2 Mercer 10
Game 7: #4 UNCG 9, #6 Western Carolina 7
Game 8: #2 Mercer 2, #8 The Citadel 1
May 28 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 9: #1 Wofford 10, #3 Samford 3
Game 10: #4 UNCG 16, #2 Mercer 5 (8 inn.)
Game 11: #4 UNCG 8, #3 Samford 2
May 29 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 12: #4 UNCG 10, #1 Wofford 2
Game 13: #4 UNCG 12, #1 Wofford 2 (7 inn.)
UNCG 10, Wofford 2
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Led by Kennedy Jones’s three-hit, five-RBI effort, No. 4 seed UNCG defeated top-seeded Wofford 10-2 to force a winner-take-all game, by scoring 10 runs on eight hits to down the Terriers at the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field.
The Spartans (33-28) will be looking for their first SoCon Championship since 2017 in the second game, while the Terriers (42-15-1) are going for their second conference crown in school history as they last won the SoCon title in 2007. With UNCG’s win in game one, Wofford suffered its first loss in the tournament.
UNCG exploded early in the contest, scoring two runs on three hits in the first inning to take the lead. Kennedy Jones started the frame with a single up the middle followed by a Pres Cavenaugh single to left field. Hogan Windish reached base on a fielder’s choice before Mitchell Smith knocked an RBI single to right field, driving in Windish for the 1-0 lead. In the next at-bat, Greg Hardison hit an RBI groundout to the pitcher, scoring Cavenaugh to hand the Spartans a two-run lead.
The Spartans went on to add two more runs in the second inning to extend their lead to 4-0. After Bradley Bott reached base on a fielding error, Jones stepped up to the plate and laced a 425-foot two-run home run over the left center field fence. That was his fourth long ball of the tournament to give the Spartans a four-run advantage.
The Terriers cut the deficit to 4-1 in the bottom of the third, with Trey Yunger starting off the inning with a hit by pitch and Zeb Roos singling down the right field line in his at-bat before Nolen Hester hit an RBI groundout to third base, scoring Yunger to collect Wofford’s first run of the game.
The Spartans scored six runs on two hits in the top of the fifth as UNCG ballooned its lead to 10-1 over the Terriers. The squad took advantage of two walks early in the frame, and with two outs, GC Jarman knocked a single to left field, driving in Cavenaugh to extend UNCG’s lead to 5-1. UNCG took advantage of a steal, hit by pitch and throwing error to add two unearned runs before Jones blasted a 415-foot three-run home run over the left center field fence, registering his fifth homerun of the tournament to hand the Spartans a nine-run lead and tie a SoCon tournament record.
The Terriers looked to make a comeback in the eighth inning, with Wofford adding one run on three hits in the bottom of the frame after Brice Martinez laced a single to right field before Nolen Hester knocked a double to right field, driving in Martinez to cut the Spartans lead to 10-2. However, Wofford’s run in the frame was not enough, as UNCG went on to clinch the victory.
Jones went 3-for-6 with two runs, two home runs and five RBIs to pace the Spartans at the plate. Jones currently leads the team in RBIs this season with 72, while his 15 hits, 16 RBIs and 32 total bases leads the Southern Conference tournament. Cavenaugh, Smith, Hardison, Jarman and Budzik recorded one hit each, while the team tallied eight RBIs and drew seven walks.
Hester was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs to lead the Terriers, while seven of nine Wofford batters tallied one hit each in the contest.
UNCG’s Austin Parsley improved to 10-4 with the win, allowing two runs on nine hits and tallying five strikeouts in nine innings of action, marking his third complete game of the campaign.
Josh Vitus (4-4) took the loss for the Terriers, allowing four runs on four hits in two innings pitched. Devon Sharts, Mike Eggert and Clay Schwaner also took the mound for Wofford in the contest, with Sharts allowing two runs on one hit and recording three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of action. Eggert allowed four runs on two hits in 0.2 innings of action and Schwaner allowed only one hit and tallied four strikeouts in the loss.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — UNCG totaled 12 runs on 14 hits, including four home runs, scoring in five of seven innings to clinch a 12-2 victory over top-seeded Wofford and claim the title Sunday at the 2022 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Flour Field. The tournament title was the Spartans’ first since 2017.
The Spartans (34-28), who tallied four runs in the third, three in the fourth and sixth and one in the fifth and seventh innings, claimed the SoCon’s automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals for the first time in the last five years and will learn their postseason fate on Monday, May 30, at 12 p.m. ET, when the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Selection Show airs on ESPN2.
Wofford finishes the tournament with a seasonal record of 42-16-1 under head coach Todd Interdonato, the SoCon Coach of the Year, and reached the title game for the first time since 2019.
Kennedy Jones, who won the Walt Nadzak Award as the Most Outstanding Player, was 1-for-5 with one run scored and one RBI in the win and finished the tournament with a .432 average, going 16-for-37 over seven games. Jones set tournament records with 16 hits, 17 RBIs, 37 at-bats and 33 total bases and matched the tournament record with five home runs. He also became UNCG’s single-season RBI record-holder with 73 on the season.
The game was scoreless through the first two innings, with Jones starting off the third with a single to right field before Hogan Windish, Pres Cavenaugh and Mitchell Smith hit back-to-back-to-back home runs, handing the Spartans the 4-0 advantage.
The Spartans added three more runs in the fourth inning, with Bradley Bott hitting a line-drive single to the pitcher before Windish knocked a 416-foot two-run home run over the left center field fence, his second of the contest, extending UNCG’s lead to 6-0. Cavenaugh followed Windish’s at-bat with a single to left field and crossed the plate in the end of the frame for the Spartans’ final run of the inning, scoring off a Wofford fielding error to hand the Spartans a seven-run lead.
After trailing 7-0 entering the bottom of the frame, the Terriers broke out with two runs on two hits, with Ryan Galanie reaching on a throwing error before Jack Renwick slashed a double to left field, driving in Galanie to collect Wofford’s first run of the game. Trey Yunger followed with an RBI single through the right side, advancing Renwick to home to cut the Terriers’ deficit to 7-2.
UNCG added five more runs on five hits in the final three innings of the contest. The Spartans took advantage of a hit by pitch and a throwing error in the fifth before Jones hit an RBI groundout to first base, driving in Zack Budzik for the 8-2 advantage. After Smith, Greg Hardison and Dallas Callahan started off the sixth inning with three consecutive singles to left field, the Spartans saw GC Jarman reach base on a fielder’s choice, Budzik hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Bott knock a single down the left field line, with all three batters driving in one run each as UNCG’s lead ballooned to 11-2. Smith started off the seventh reaching base on a fielding error before Hardison laced a double down the left-field line to make it a 12-2 contest.
Smith went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, one home run and one RBI to pace the Spartans at the plate, while Windish went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, two home runs and four RBIs. Five of nine UNCG batters registered two or more hits in the win.
Lawson Hill, Galanie, Hester, Renwick and Yunger all went 1-for 3 to lead the Terriers at the plate, while six of nine Wofford batters tallied a hit in the contest. With his single in the fifth inning, Hill recorded the 300th hit of his career to become the first Terrier to ever reach that benchmark and just the 15th player in SoCon history.
Spartans starting pitcher Hunter Shuey, who pitched all seven innings for UNCG, tossed three scoreless innings in the final three frames to prevent the Terriers from cutting into the lead. The Hamburg, Pennsylvania, native, allowed two unearned runs on six hits and recorded four strikeouts in the contest, improving to 2-2 on the season with the win.
Wofford’s Dalton Rhadans (7-4) took the loss for the Terriers, allowing six runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings of work. Holden Wilder, Luke Stephens and Lucas Mahlstedt also took the mound for Wofford in the contest, with Wilder allowing two unearned runs on one hit and recording one strikeout in 2/3 of an inning of action, Stephens allowing three runs on four hits and recording two strikeouts in two innings of action and Mahlstedt allowing only one hit in his one inning of work.
UNCG’s Alex Hoppe, a senior right-handed pitcher, earned the Pinnacle Award as the student-athlete with the highest GPA on the championship-winning team.
2022 Southern Conference Championship All-Tournament Team
SP – Price King, UNCG
SP – Matthew Marchal, Wofford
RP – Jackson Kelley, Mercer
C – Dallas Callahan, UNCG
1B – Greg Hardison, UNCG
2B – Garrett Staton, Samford
SS – Zack Budzik, UNCG
3B – Zach Ketterman, Western Carolina
OF – Pres Cavenaugh, UNCG
OF – Kennedy Jones, UNCG
OF – Colton Ledbetter, Samford
DH – Brennen Dorighi, Wofford
Walt Nadzak Most Outstanding Player
Kennedy Jones, Fr., OF, UNCG
Pinnacle Award (highest GPA on championship-winning team)
Alex Hoppe, Sr., RHP, UNCG
May 25 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: #8 The Citadel 3, #5 ETSU 1
Game 2: #6 Western Carolina 4, #7 VMI 1
Game 3: #4 UNCG 7, #8 The Citadel 6
Game 4: #3 Samford 22, #6 Western Carolina 3 (7 inn.)
May 27 (Friday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 5: #1 Wofford 6, #4 UNCG 3
Game 6: #3 Samford 13, #2 Mercer 10
Game 7: #4 UNCG 9, #6 Western Carolina 7
Game 8: #2 Mercer 2, #8 The Citadel 1
May 28 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 9: #1 Wofford 10, #3 Samford 3
Game 10: #4 UNCG 16, #2 Mercer 5 (8 inn.)
Game 11: #4 UNCG 8, #3 Samford 2
May 29 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 12: #4 UNCG 10, #1 Wofford 2
Game 13: #4 UNCG 12, #1 Wofford 2 (7 inn.)
UNCG 10, Wofford 2
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Led by Kennedy Jones’s three-hit, five-RBI effort, No. 4 seed UNCG defeated top-seeded Wofford 10-2 to force a winner-take-all game, by scoring 10 runs on eight hits to down the Terriers at the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field.
The Spartans (33-28) will be looking for their first SoCon Championship since 2017 in the second game, while the Terriers (42-15-1) are going for their second conference crown in school history as they last won the SoCon title in 2007. With UNCG’s win in game one, Wofford suffered its first loss in the tournament.
UNCG exploded early in the contest, scoring two runs on three hits in the first inning to take the lead. Kennedy Jones started the frame with a single up the middle followed by a Pres Cavenaugh single to left field. Hogan Windish reached base on a fielder’s choice before Mitchell Smith knocked an RBI single to right field, driving in Windish for the 1-0 lead. In the next at-bat, Greg Hardison hit an RBI groundout to the pitcher, scoring Cavenaugh to hand the Spartans a two-run lead.
The Spartans went on to add two more runs in the second inning to extend their lead to 4-0. After Bradley Bott reached base on a fielding error, Jones stepped up to the plate and laced a 425-foot two-run home run over the left center field fence. That was his fourth long ball of the tournament to give the Spartans a four-run advantage.
The Terriers cut the deficit to 4-1 in the bottom of the third, with Trey Yunger starting off the inning with a hit by pitch and Zeb Roos singling down the right field line in his at-bat before Nolen Hester hit an RBI groundout to third base, scoring Yunger to collect Wofford’s first run of the game.
The Spartans scored six runs on two hits in the top of the fifth as UNCG ballooned its lead to 10-1 over the Terriers. The squad took advantage of two walks early in the frame, and with two outs, GC Jarman knocked a single to left field, driving in Cavenaugh to extend UNCG’s lead to 5-1. UNCG took advantage of a steal, hit by pitch and throwing error to add two unearned runs before Jones blasted a 415-foot three-run home run over the left center field fence, registering his fifth homerun of the tournament to hand the Spartans a nine-run lead and tie a SoCon tournament record.
The Terriers looked to make a comeback in the eighth inning, with Wofford adding one run on three hits in the bottom of the frame after Brice Martinez laced a single to right field before Nolen Hester knocked a double to right field, driving in Martinez to cut the Spartans lead to 10-2. However, Wofford’s run in the frame was not enough, as UNCG went on to clinch the victory.
Jones went 3-for-6 with two runs, two home runs and five RBIs to pace the Spartans at the plate. Jones currently leads the team in RBIs this season with 72, while his 15 hits, 16 RBIs and 32 total bases leads the Southern Conference tournament. Cavenaugh, Smith, Hardison, Jarman and Budzik recorded one hit each, while the team tallied eight RBIs and drew seven walks.
Hester was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs to lead the Terriers, while seven of nine Wofford batters tallied one hit each in the contest.
UNCG’s Austin Parsley improved to 10-4 with the win, allowing two runs on nine hits and tallying five strikeouts in nine innings of action, marking his third complete game of the campaign.
Josh Vitus (4-4) took the loss for the Terriers, allowing four runs on four hits in two innings pitched. Devon Sharts, Mike Eggert and Clay Schwaner also took the mound for Wofford in the contest, with Sharts allowing two runs on one hit and recording three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of action. Eggert allowed four runs on two hits in 0.2 innings of action and Schwaner allowed only one hit and tallied four strikeouts in the loss.
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