University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Baseball Plays Three This Weekend in Spartanburg
02.21.2015 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team is back in action this weekend as the Bulldogs compete in a round-robin series against three different teams in Spartanburg, S.C.
Asheville will play two games on Saturday in two different sites in Spartanburg. The Dogs face Miami of Ohio on Saturday at Noon and that game will be played at Wofford. Later in the day, Asheville takes on ETSU at 5 p.m. with that contest being played at USC Upstate.
On Sunday, the Dogs journey to Wofford to face the Terriers at 1 p.m.
Asheville opened the season at home vs. Ohio last weekend. The Bulldogs dropped all three games to the Bobcats, falling 16-9, 14-12 and 10-3 to the MAC power.
First-year coach Scott Friedholm says his team will be challenged again this weekend.
“We are facing three very good teams,” stated Freidholm. “All three present different challenges that we have to ready for from the start.
“Miami of Ohio has great pitching,” added Friedholm. “Our hitters will have to make adjustments to their pitching.
“ETSU has a strong line-up from top to bottom,” Friedholm also said. “Our pitchers will have to be ready to battle against their hitters.
“On Sunday, we face a Wofford team that has an aggressive running game,” admitted Friedholm. “They can cause havoc with the way they steal bases and take an extra base. We'll have to be ready for them defensively.”
Friedholm just wants his team to relax and play good baseball this weekend.
“Right now I'm more concerned about UNC Asheville than who we play this weekend,” commented Friedholm. “I want us to play the right way and play the way we've been practicing. If we can do that, we'll be fine.”
The Bulldogs are scheduled to start junior right-hander Corey Randall on Saturday against Miami. He pitched six strong innings in the opener against Ohio. Junior left-hander Lucas Clarke will start against ETSU. Sunday's starter vs. Wofford has not been decided.
A bright spot in Asheville's performance last weekend was its hitting. The Bulldogs did a good job hitting against one of the top pitching staffs in the Mid-American Conference. Asheville hit .309 as a team with three home runs and five doubles during the weekend.
Tommy Houmard tops the club in hitting after the first weekend with a .583 average. Lucas Owens is hitting .556.
The Bulldogs will play at North Carolina Central on Tuesday before starting a 10-game homestand on Wednesday at Greenwood Field when they face mountain rival Western Carolina starting at 4 p.m.
