GREENVILLE, S.C. – The No. 5 Wofford baseball team scattered five runs over four innings Friday morning at Fluor Field as the duo of Branton Little and Kenny Michaels held No. 1 UNCG to just a pair as the Terriers triumphed 5-2 to advance in the 2024 Southern Conference Championship presented by Holston Gases. Wofford improves to 38-17 with the win as UNCG drops to 33-20.
 
The Terriers needed just two pitchers to secure the victory. Branton Little (2-0) earned the win as the starter, tossing the first 5.1 innings and allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks. Little notched a pair of punchouts in his career-long innings of work. Kenny Michaels (1) secured his first-career save after polishing off the final 3.2 innings without allowing a run. Michaels surrendered just two hits and one walk while striking out six.
 
"The mindset was just taking it one out at a time," said Little of his approach as the start this morning. "In a big tournament like this, it's easy to increase your intensity and try to match the moment, but it's about bringing the moment down to your intensity and your level of focus and your simplicity."
 
Hunter Shuey (6-2) swallowed the loss after giving up two runs in 2.1 innings as the starter for UNCG. He allowed just one hit but walked four batters and hit three more.
 
The Terriers notched just five hits in the contest, but the patient Wofford batters took advantage of numerous free passes. UNCG granted Wofford a total of 10 free baserunners by way of six walks and four hit batsmen. Marshall Toole, Dixon Black, Brice Martinez, Tyler Hare and Jack Renwick each tallied a base knock for Wofford with Toole, Hare, Daniel Jackson and David Wiley securing an RBI each. Jackson has extended his program-record on-base streak to 44 games.
 
Toole and Jackson both worked two walks, and Hare added one on top of his hit. Toole and Black both collected a double as two-fifths of the Terrier knocks went for extra bases. Toole stole a base in the top of the third inning, his 40^th of the season. That swipe granted him sole possession of the program's single-season steals record, topping the 43-year-old mark of 39 set by Tim Renfrow in 1981.
 
"It's awesome," said Toole on breaking the record. "It just comes back to (Josh) Schulman and J.J. (Edwards) preparing me as well as everybody else, and it leads to stuff like that."
 
After two scoreless innings to open the contest, Wofford got on the board first in the top of the third. Marshall Toole worked a lead-off walk before swiping second, his record 40^th steal of the campaign. A bunt single by Brice Martinez was followed by Daniel Jackson wearing a pitch to load the bases. Tyler Hare was then hit as well, pushing across the game's first run. David Wiley lifted a sacrifice fly to right that scored a second run, giving Wofford an early 2-0 edge.
 
The Terriers tacked on one more run in the top of the fifth. Dixon Black ripped a lead-off double off the Green Monster before advancing to third on Martinez's sacrifice bunt. Jackson's RBI groundout then brought Black home, stretching the Wofford lead to 3-0.
 
With two more in the sixth, Wofford stretched its lead further. With two runners on, Jack Renwick laid down a bunt single, and a subsequent throwing error allowed the first runner to score. Toole then roped a double the opposite way down the left field line that scored another run, making the score 5-0.
 
The Spartans got those two runs back in the bottom of the frame. Three-straight singles loaded the bases, and a fourth pushed two runners across to get UNCG on the board. But Kenny Michaels came on from the bullpen and got two outs, including a strikeout, to limit the damage with the Terrier lead standing at 5-2.
 
Though the Terriers were unable to plate any more runs over the final three frames, neither were the Spartans. Michaels held firm on the bump to curtail UNCG's comeback efforts and lock down the 5-2 win for Wofford.
 
With the win, Wofford advances to the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament. The Terriers will play tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. against the winner of Friday afternoon's match-up between No. 2 Samford and No. 7 Mercer.