CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team will close out the home portion of the Bulldogs' 2018 Southern Conference schedule this weekend with three games against UNCG. The Bulldogs and Spartans will open the series on Friday, May 11 with a 6 p.m. game and the series will continue on Saturday, May 12 with a 2 p.m. first pitch. The series finale will be on Sunday, May 13 and will get underway at 1 p.m.

SENIOR DAY SUNDAY
Prior to Sunday's series finale with UNCG, The Citadel will recognize the eight seniors on this year's squad. Those seniors include Taylor Cothran, Clay Martin, Kyle Smith, Jonathan Sabo, William Kinney, Thomas Byelick, Jordan Buster and Ryan Stamler.

WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
The weekend series is sponsored by Allstate and will feature regular weekend promotions, including First Responder Friday, Service Saturday and Sunday Funday as well as in-game promotions that include Kickin' Chicken Baseball Bingo, the TD Bank Baseball Toss, the Ashley Furniture Best Seats in the Park and more!


Probable Weekend Pitching Matchups
Game 1: Friday, May 11 – 6 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Video – Live Audio – Tickets
RHP Matt Frisbee (9-0, 3.01 ERA, 12 APP, 12 GS, 77.2 IP) vs. RHP Jordan Merritt (2-4, 7.48 ERA, 12 APP, 6 GS, 43.1 IP)

Game 2: Saturday, May 12 – 2 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Video – Live Audio – Tickets
LHP Bryce Hensley (5-2, 3.97 ERA, 12 APP, 12 GS, 68 IP) vs. RHP Thomas Byelick (2-6, 4.61 ERA, 13 APP, 9 GS, 52.2 IP)

Game 2: Sunday, May 13 – 1 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Video – Live Audio – Tickets
LHP Jake Lewis (5-0, 3.72 ERA, 19 APP, 7 GS, 48.1 IP) vs. RHP Dylan Spence (3-4, 3.56 ERA, 13 APP, 12 GS, 78.1 IP)


Since 1965, The Citadel owns an all-time record of 39-31 over UNCG. The Bulldogs are 27-12 in Charleston and 26-9 over the Spartans at Joe Riley Park. UNCG has claimed the last three series over the Bulldogs by similar scores of 2-1 and the Spartans are 7-4 over the Bulldogs during the last three seasons. The Citadel last claimed the series in May of 2014, sweeping all three games at home over the Spartans.

UNCG enters this weekend's series with a 34-12 record overall, including a 15-3 mark in Southern Conference play and an 11-5 record on the road. The Spartans continue to receive votes in the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll and are currently No. 54 in the RPI. A midweek loss at home to Winthrop on Tuesday, May 8 halted a five-game winning streak by the Spartans that included a three-game sweep of Mercer following a 2-1 series win over Wofford. The Spartans have won 11 of their 12 weekend series with the lone blemish being a 2-1 series loss at Tennessee during the second weekend of the season. UNCG boasts the third-best team batting average in NCAA Division I at .323, including 139 extra-base hits. As a unit, the Spartans are slugging .465 with an on-base percentage of .393 and are 81-of-101 (.802) in stolen bases. The Spartan pitching corps boasts a 3.89 ERA with 462 strikeouts on the season with opponents batting just .244 against them. In the field, the Spartans boast a 980 fielding percentage, the 12th-highest team fielding percentage in the nation.

At the plate, UNCG is led by Andrew Moritz's .433 average, second best in the nation. Moritz is also slugging .650 with an on-base percentage of .498. He leads the team with 46 runs scored, 48 runs batted in, 10 triples and117 total bases. He has struck out just 27 times and has 12 stolen bases on the year. Behind him, Caleb Webster, Cesar Trejo, Austin Embler and Dillon Stewart are all batting over .300 and each boasts above a .400 on-base percentage. Trejo leads the team with 14 doubles on the year while Stewart boasts 10 home runs. Trejo is also the team leader in stolen bases with 20 on 21 attempts. Webster leads the team with 11 sacrifice hits and has struck out just 16 times this season and Embler is tied with Moritz for most runs scored. Trejo has driven in 44 runs and is second on the team with a .573 slugging percentage.

UNCG will send right-handed pitcher Matt Frisbee to the mound in the series opener on Friday with Bryce Hensley toeing the rubber first on Saturday and fellow southpaw Jake Lewis getting the nod on Sunday. Frisbee leads the team with 77.2 innings pitched, 100 strikeouts and nine wins on the season (9-0). He boasts a 3.01 ERA, best of the weekend starters and has held opponents to a .228 batting average. Lewis is second of the three weekend starters with a 3.72 ERA and a 5-0 record. He has pitched 48.1 innings and has held his opposition to a .220 batting average, striking out 54 batters. Hensley enters the weekend with a 3.97 ERA, 5-2 record and 67 strikeouts in 68 innings of work. He has walked just 16 batters all season while Jack Maynard has walked just eight batters compared to striking out 69 batters in 55 innings of work spread out over 25 appearances. Maynard boasts a1.64 ERA and nine saves on the season. Both Frisbee and Hensley have pitched a complete game.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs will close out the home slate with a 6 p.m. game against College of Charleston on Tuesday, May 15. Tuesday's game will be a single game as the first game between The Citadel and College of Charleston, which was suspended in the top of the fifth inning back on Wednesday, April 11, has been officially cancelled and will not be continued. Following the final midweek tilt of the regular season, The Citadel will travel to Macon, Georgia for the final regular-season series against Mercer. The Bulldogs and Bears will commence the weekend on Thursday, May 17 at 6 p.m. and will continue the series on Friday, May 18 with a 6 p.m. first pitch. The series will conclude on Saturday, May 19 at 2 p.m.

For more information on The Citadel baseball team, please visit CitadelSports.com or follow @CitadelBaseball and @CitadelSports on Twitter.