Carrollton, GA – The UWG baseball team is headed to Hartsville, South Carolina to matchup against Coker College in what is now West Georgia's Spring break. The two teams will play the first game Tuesday, March 19 at 3:00 p.m. and the second game on Wednesday at the same time.
UWG at a Glance
The University of West Georgia baseball team is 17-8 overall and is coming off a great weekend after taking two of three games from GSC opponent Shorter College. The Wolves also improved their conference record to 6-3 on the year. The UWG baseball team is still ranked sixth in the south region by D2baseballnews.com. The Wolves are 2-3 in weekday games this year, and are looking to get that average up above .500 if they can pull out both of the wins.
Coker at a Glance
The Cobras are in second place in the Conference Carolina division with an 8-4 conference record. They have a 16-8 record overall and are just one game behind Mount Olive for first place. The Cobras are coming off winning their last series against Pfeiffer winning two out of three games. Head baseball coach Dave Schmotzer is the school's first and only coach of the program and led the Cobras to the NAIA College World Series in 1994.
Coker Batters to Watch
Coker College's Fico Kondla was selected as the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas Baseball Player of the Week during week five this season. Kondla was on fire this week at the plate as he led Coker to a 3-1 record, including a 2-1 series win over King. He blistered the baseball, batting .615 for the week with two doubles, a home run, and five RBIs. He had multiple hits in three of the four games and scored four runs during the week. Kondla capped off his impressive week with a 3-for-4 performance that included a two-run homer against King on Sunday, giving the Cobras the series victory. So far this season he is batting .439 with 17 RBIs, 17 runs scored, six doubles and a home run.
UWG Batters to Watch
The Wolves are hitting .296 as a team this year, which is a couple points up from before this past weekend against Shorter College. #
TJ Eifert# is swinging a hot bat right now for the Wolves, as he has upped his batting average up to .311 on the season. Eifert is second on the team in RBIs behind #
Evan Hester# with 21. #
Blake McLemore# is also playing solid baseball hitting .333 this year with 29 hits. McLemore is 9-for-10 on stolen bases this season and is also leading the team with a .442 on base percentage.
Coker Pitchers to Watch
Coker College's Zach Loraine was also selected as the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas Baseball Pitcher of the Week during week five of the season. Loraine helped lead Coker to a 3-1 week posting two saves in 5.2 innings of work. In addition to his two saves, Loraine posted a 0.00 ERA, allowing just two hits and striking out eight during the week. For the year, Loraine leads the league in saves with six and has the league's best ERA at 0.93.
UWG Pitchers to Watch
In these weekday game matchups, expect for some other pitchers besides #
Jamie Sexton# and #
Chase Riemer# to step up and play at a high level. A probable starter this week in one of the games will be #
Jonathon Black# who has an impressive 3-1 record this year. #
Cody Skinner# is also another potential starter in one of the games. Skinner has started in one game this year and is 1-2 on the season with a 17 to 5 strikeout to walk ratio. Also, expect to see #
Max Aeschlimann# out of the bullpen for a couple innings. Aeschlimann has been a stud this year with a 0.96 ERA through eighteen innings pitched.
Last Matchup
Last year the two teams met up in Carrollton, Georgia in a two game series. UWG was able to conquer the Cobras as they won the first game 9-7 and the second game 15-2. Hester was a key player in the wins. He picked up a hit in the first game, and had a big second game going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
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