University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Friday, March 13
Clinton, SC
6 PM
UNC Asheville
11-8, 0
6
at
5
Presbyterian
2-17, 0
1st innning1
2nd innning2
3rd innning3
4th innning4
5th innning5
6th innning6
7th innning7
8th innning8
9th innning9
RunsR
HitsH
ErrorsE
UNC Asheville
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
0
6
9
1
Presbyterian
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
3
2
Bulldogs Rally Past Presbyterian for Series-Opening Win Friday Night
03.13.2026 | Baseball
CLINTON, S.C. - UNC Asheville Baseball rallied past Presbyterian for a Big South Conference series-opening win Friday night (Mar. 13) by a score of 6-5. This marks the second straight season that the Bulldogs have opened Big South Conference play with a win.
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Asheville got on the board in the top half of the first, after Blaize Johnson started a two-out rally with a single to right field before Ben Green followed suit with a single to right to push Johnson to third. The duo then executed a double-steal to score the game's first run. Presbyterian answered in a big way in the home half of the inning, scoring five times for a 5-1 lead. Solid pitching performances on both sides carried the game with the same score into the seventh, before Asheville scored twice to get back within two in the game. Ben Hemphill would start the seventh with a one-out single up the middle, before Logan Lowe was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. After the second out pushed both runners into scoring position, Johnson delivered the big blow in the inning with a two-run double to left center to score both Hemphill and Lowe and get the Bulldogs back within 5-3. After a quick inning on defense in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs would rally to ultimately bring the game to its final score in the top of the eighth. Owen Michelson started the rally with a one-out walk, before Zeb Swangim drew a walk off a newly-entered Presbyterian pitcher to push Michelson to second. Coleman McGinnis would single to third base to score Michelson and move Swangim to third, before McGinnis was able to advance to second on a foul ball in play resulting in the second out. Two big errors for Presbyterian would ultimately doom the Blue Hose, the first a throwing error from the pitcher scoring Swangim and moving McGinnis to third followed by a fielding error at third base off the bat of Lowe that brought McGinnis home for the lead. Drew Turner would come on in the bottom of the eighth to shut the door for the Bulldogs and collect his first save of the season.
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Johnson would yet again pace the offense going 3-5 on the night, scoring once and driving in two in the game. Hemphill posted two hits in the game, along with one each from Lowe, Green, Michelson and McGinnis. McGinnis also drove in one run in the game, while Lowe, Michelson, Swangim, McGinnis and Hemphill each also scored run in the game. Lowe and Green each stole two bases in the game, while Johnson also swiped one bag in the game. Lucas Boesen got the start for the Bulldogs, before giving way to Matthew Hall who fired 5.1 innings of scoreless relief surrendering just one hit with one walk and a career-best six strikeouts. Branden Barna (2-0) would come on to collect the come-from-behind win for the Bulldogs, firing a clean inning of relief before handing the ball off to Turner to hold the lead. Turner earned the save with two innings of hitless relief allowing two walks and striking out three.
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The Bulldogs (11-8, 1-0 Big South Conference) return to action tomorrow (Saturday, Mar. 14) for the middle game of the series. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. from Clinton, S.C. with live stats and tickets available at www.uncabulldogs.com. Â
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Asheville got on the board in the top half of the first, after Blaize Johnson started a two-out rally with a single to right field before Ben Green followed suit with a single to right to push Johnson to third. The duo then executed a double-steal to score the game's first run. Presbyterian answered in a big way in the home half of the inning, scoring five times for a 5-1 lead. Solid pitching performances on both sides carried the game with the same score into the seventh, before Asheville scored twice to get back within two in the game. Ben Hemphill would start the seventh with a one-out single up the middle, before Logan Lowe was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. After the second out pushed both runners into scoring position, Johnson delivered the big blow in the inning with a two-run double to left center to score both Hemphill and Lowe and get the Bulldogs back within 5-3. After a quick inning on defense in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs would rally to ultimately bring the game to its final score in the top of the eighth. Owen Michelson started the rally with a one-out walk, before Zeb Swangim drew a walk off a newly-entered Presbyterian pitcher to push Michelson to second. Coleman McGinnis would single to third base to score Michelson and move Swangim to third, before McGinnis was able to advance to second on a foul ball in play resulting in the second out. Two big errors for Presbyterian would ultimately doom the Blue Hose, the first a throwing error from the pitcher scoring Swangim and moving McGinnis to third followed by a fielding error at third base off the bat of Lowe that brought McGinnis home for the lead. Drew Turner would come on in the bottom of the eighth to shut the door for the Bulldogs and collect his first save of the season.
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Johnson would yet again pace the offense going 3-5 on the night, scoring once and driving in two in the game. Hemphill posted two hits in the game, along with one each from Lowe, Green, Michelson and McGinnis. McGinnis also drove in one run in the game, while Lowe, Michelson, Swangim, McGinnis and Hemphill each also scored run in the game. Lowe and Green each stole two bases in the game, while Johnson also swiped one bag in the game. Lucas Boesen got the start for the Bulldogs, before giving way to Matthew Hall who fired 5.1 innings of scoreless relief surrendering just one hit with one walk and a career-best six strikeouts. Branden Barna (2-0) would come on to collect the come-from-behind win for the Bulldogs, firing a clean inning of relief before handing the ball off to Turner to hold the lead. Turner earned the save with two innings of hitless relief allowing two walks and striking out three.
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The Bulldogs (11-8, 1-0 Big South Conference) return to action tomorrow (Saturday, Mar. 14) for the middle game of the series. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. from Clinton, S.C. with live stats and tickets available at www.uncabulldogs.com. Â
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Barna, Branden (2-0)
L: HAMPTON, Jeremiah (1-2)
S: Turner, Drew (1)
Batting:
2B: Johnson, Blaize 1
RBI: Johnson, Blaize 2 ; McGinnis, Coleman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lowe, Logan 1 ; Johnson, Blaize 1 ; Michelson, Owen 1 ; Swangim, Zeb 1 ; McGinnis, Coleman 1 ; Hemphill, Ben 1
SB: Lowe, Logan 2 ; Johnson, Blaize 1 ; Green, Ben 2
HBP: Lowe, Logan 1
Batting:
2B: ROLLISON, Matthew 1
3B: ROLLISON, Matthew 1
RBI: ROLLISON, Matthew 3 ; LINKER, Brody 1
Base Running:
RUNS: GREEN, James 1 ; MOODY, Bo 1 ; MASON, Caden 1 ; ROLLISON, Matthew 1 ; BAKER, Holden 1
SB: BAKER, Holden 1 ; CONNER, Mikah 1
HBP: GREEN, James 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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UTL
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C/UTL
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INF
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C/OF
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INF
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RHP
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