Three Spartans Win Summer League Titles
8/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 11, 2008
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Three USC Upstate baseball players won titles this summer with their respective summer wood-bat collegiate leagues. Junior Brian Dempsey (Montverde, Fla./East Ridge) was the first Spartan to earn a title with his Clermont Mavericks of the Florida Collegiate Summer League, who wrapped up their title on Aug. 7 with a 9-1 win over Belleview. Senior Eric Guillen (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks) and junior Matt Branham (Columbia, S.C./Spring Valley) followed by claiming the New York Collegiate Baseball League title on Aug. 9 with a 3-2 win over Glens Falls in the best-of-three championship series.
Dempsey appeared in 20 games for the Mavericks (23-14), who dashed out to a 6-0 lead through the first five innings to take a commanding lead in the 9-1 win over Belleview at Tropicana Field. Dempsey entered the game in the eighth inning and was hit by a pitch in his only plate appearance. The junior started 18 games in center field, helping the team to a 10-8 record in those games, posting 12 hits, eight runs and four RBIs.
Guillen played primarily second base for the Riverbats (27-15), who finished in second place in the West division of the NYCBL, while Branham was the team's closer. The duo helped Brockport to an impressive 6-1 record in the playoffs, as the Riverbats swept Geneva in the opening round of the playoffs before defeating Hornell, 2-0, to win the West Division. The Riverbats clinched the league title by taking two of three games from Glens Falls in the finals.
Guillen started two games during the playoffs and appeared in three, posting one hit and a 1.000 fielding percentage. Guillen appeared in 27 games during the regular season, posting 20 hits and scoring 15 times. He has also driven in 15 and posted an impressive .957 fielding percentage.
Branham, a starter for the Spartans, coasted into the Riverbats' closer role, finishing the year with a 3-1 record and a 2.95 ERA. In 21.1 innings, Branham has saved seven games and struck out 24 while walking just five. As a reliever, Branham has a 1.56 ERA in 17.1 innings of work. In the playoffs, Branham was electric, tossing four innings without allowing a run. He struck out three and walked one, helping earn two saves and combine for one shutout. In the finals against Glens Falls, Branham worked a scoreless ninth to preserve a 5-0 win in the first game. He also saved both games in the semifinals against Hornell.
Upstate, which finished 25-29 overall and 17-16 in the Atlantic Sun, finished over .500 in conference play for the first time since then-USC Spartanburg went 12-6 in the NAIA District Six in 1990. It finished tied for fifth in the conference and would have qualified for the six-team Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament field, but it is still in the first of its four years in the provisionary process in the transition to Division I, making it ineligible for postseason play.
