University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Baseball Hits the Road for Pair of Mid-Week Games - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Baseball
April 23, 2007
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ASHEVILLE, N.C.-- UNC Asheville's baseball team will be on the road for its next five games beginning Tuesday afternoon at Appalachian State. The Bulldogs and Mountaineers will play at 5 p.m. at ASU's new Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
Asheville (17-27) has added a game against Elon on Wednesday. The Bulldogs and Phoenix will get together at Elon's Lathem Park in a 7 p.m. contest.
The Bulldogs will send senior Andrew Alexander (0-1, 4.79 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday against Appalachian State (22-19). It will be Alexander's first start of the season. His last start came last April 26, at Tennessee.
ASU defeated Asheville 8-7 in their fist meeting of the season on April 4, at McCormick Field. In that game, ASU led 8-1 going to the eighth inning. The Bulldogs rallied for two runs in the eighth and four in the ninth but left the bases loaded. The Mountaineers hold a 28-19 advantage in the all-time series.
Asheville's Rob Vernon has been the best hitter in the Big South Conference in conference only games this season. Against Big South pitching he is hitting .531 which is 97 points higher than the next closest hitter, Radford's Alex Gregory who is hitting .439. Vernon also leads the conference in hits (34), doubles (8), triples, (4), total bases (56) and is second in runs scored (16), and RBI (19). Overall, the Bulldog senior is hitting .393 with a team-high six triples, six home runs, and 40 RBI. Vernon has a hit in 26 of his last 27 games.
Elliott Arrington is also swinging a good bat for the Bulldogs. Since the beginning of April, Arrington is 19-for-57 (.333) with five doubles, three home runs, and 18 RBI. He has hit in 10 of 14 games this month with seven multi-hit games.
Kevin Mattison is currently riding a 13-game hit streak which is the second longest of the season for Asheville. He had a 17-game hit streak at the end of last season.
The Mountaineers are one of the top hitting teams in the Southern Conference with a team batting average of .318. David Rubinstein leads the club with a .390 average. He has 22 doubles and 29 RBI. Andrew Franco is the leading run producer with a .357 average, seven home runs, and 40 RBI. ASU has seven guys hitting over .300 for the season.
