Baseball has rough patch after early winning streak

By Dan Kelly
Staff Writer

The UNCP baseball team was looking dominant in its unexpected 11-game win streak to open the 2005 season but has faltered in the most recent month.

The Braves have gone 9-11 since then and dropped to 20-12 overall and 6-9 in the Peach Belt Conference, as well as dropping out of the national Top 30 poll for NCAA Division II baseball.

The recent problems for the Braves have come mainly on the road where they are 3-8 this season, a glaring blemish for a squad with a 17-4 home record.

The Braves dropped two of three to 11 th-ranked Kennesaw State in a weekend series March 19 and 20. UNCP won the first game 9-4, but stumbled in the next two, losing 9-2 and 15-2.

The team had a five game winning streak going into the middle of Spring Break, defeating Bloomfield College 5-3 on March 3, Felician College 10-0 and 8-1 on March 5 and 22-7 on March 6 and Wingate University 8-4 on March 9.

The Braves were swept in a weekend road series March 12 and 13 against PBC opponent Francis Marion University.

But the team came through again at home with a dominant 10-3 win against Virginia State University on March 15, which saw Craig Funderburk pitch seven innings, giving up three earned runs.

Earlier in the season on Feb. 16, the Braves went on the road to face Barton College where their opening winning spree was brutally snapped by a seven-run first inning that jumpstarted a 10-3 win for Barton.

UNCP then hosted the USC Upstate Spartans Feb. 19 and 20 for the second conference series of the season. The Spartans swept the Saturday doubleheader 9-1 and 3-2 with a combination of tough pitching and missed hitting opportunities by the Braves.

The Braves came up big on Sunday as they took a 7-1 lead and held off the Spartans' final charge to win 8-6.

The road was again unkind on Feb. 22 as the Braves faced Pfeiffer University and lost 8-5 to create a two game non-conference losing streak.