Upstate Closes Out Season At KSU, Mercer
4/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 23, 2009
Notes | Gametracker - KSU Game 1 | Gametracker - KSU Game 2
Live Stats - Mercer
Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate returns to the diamond Friday and Saturday to battle a pair of A-Sun teams in the final games of the season. The Spartans travel to Kennesaw, Ga., to take on Kennesaw State Friday at 2:00 p.m., taking on an old rival from the days of Division II. Upstate travels to Macon, Ga., Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. showdown with Mercer. Upstate enters the weekend with a 27-14 overall record and a 9-7 mark in the league. Kennesaw State opens the weekend with a 19-28 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the conference. The Owls own a 30-2 advantage over Upstate in the series that dates back to the days when both schools were members of the Peach Belt Conference. Mercer enters the weekend with a 32-15 overall record and an 11-5 mark in the A-Sun. Upstate owns a 4-0 lead in the series with the Bears.
Fans not in attendance at the Kennesaw State doubleheader can get live statistical updates using Gametracker via the official Upstate Athletics Web site at www.upstatespartans.com. Fans not in attendance at the Mercer doubleheader can get live statistical updates via the official Mercer Athletics Web site at www.mercerbears.com.
Looking Back At Appalachian State
It was a tale of two games as Upstate pounded out 12 hits and scored eight runs to take an 8-2 win in the first game of the doubleheader at Appalachian State Tuesday afternoon in Boone, N.C. However, the Spartans allowed five runs in the fifth inning to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 7-0 deficit as the Mountaineers came back for a 7-2 win in game two to earn a split with Upstate. In game one, Crislyn Chewning had three hits, including a two-run homer in the first inning, to lead the Spartans at the plate. Heidi Gibbs also had three hits on the day, while Morgan Childers went the distance with nine strikeouts and allowed just one earned run to pick up the win. In game two, Upstate fell behind 2-0 and looked to crack the scoreboard in the fourth, but Appalachian State got out of the jam and put up five runs in the fifth to take a 7-0 lead. Despite getting two runs in the sixth, Upstate could get no closer.
About The Competition
Kennesaw State enters Friday's doubleheader against Upstate with a 19-28 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the A-Sun for head coach Scott Whitlock. The Owls have lost their last four games, but own a 30-2 lead in the all-time series with Upstate.
Kennesaw hits .233 as a team, owns a 2.96 ERA and has a .962 fielding percentage. Lyndsay McCurry leads the Owls at the plate with a .300 batting average. Jenna Closner hits .262 with a team-high 29 RBIs. April Harper leads Kennesaw in the circle with a 2.42 ERA and nine wins.
Mercer enters the weekend with a 32-15 overall record and an 11-5 mark in the A-Sun for head coach Mike Raynor. The Bears will face ETSU Friday night. Mercer has won its last three games in the A-Sun.
Mercer owns a .266 team batting average, a 1.93 ERA and a .977 fielding percentage. Holly Oglesbee leads the Bears with a .331 batting average, 15 doubles and 30 runs. Jenni Holtz leads the Bears in the circle with a 1.62 ERA, 20 wins and 201 strikeouts.
Gibbs 2nd Toughest In Nation To Strike Out
Heidi Gibbs has always been a tough out throughout her career, but the senior from Florence, S.C., has proven to be even tougher this season. She currently ranks as the second-toughest player in all of NCAA Division I to strike out. Gibbs has struck out just three times in 125 at-bats all year long and owns a 0.024 percentage, tying Hofstra's Michele DePasquale for second place in the nation. Both players trail Louisville's Colby Wherry who owns a 0.015 percentage while striking out two times in 131 at-bats.
Childers Closing In On Single-Season Strikeouts Record
Sophomore pitcher Morgan Childers has made it a habit of breaking records at Upstate. But, with eight more strikeouts this weekend, she will top herself for the first time in her career by breaking her own single-season strikeouts record. Childers broke the single-season school record with 258 strikeouts last year en route to being named the A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year. She currently has 251 strikeouts this season and needs seven to tie and eight to break her own mark. She already owns all three key strikeout records at the school: 509 career strikeouts, 258 single-season strikeouts and 18 single-game strikeouts.
Can She Do It?
Averaging two hits per game is a tall order for any player, but senior right fielder Heidi Gibbs will need to do just that to tie the all-time hits record at Upstate. Gibbs, a three-time all-conference selection, has 273 hits in her brilliant four-year career. She stands eight hits shy of the all-time mark of 281 held by Krista Altom (2002-05).
Brasil Earns First A-Sun Weekly Honor
After collecting three doubles, a triple and a home run last week in leading the Spartans to a sweep of Jacksonville and at South Carolina, Upstate catcher Kim Brasil has been named the A-Sun Player of the Week for the first time in her career. Brasil, from Mississauga, Ontario, finished the week hitting .500 (6-for-12) with all but one of her hits coming as an extra-base hit. She had two hits at South Carolina, knocking a solo homer to tie the game at 1-1 in the third. South Carolina went on for a controversial 3-2 victory. Against Jacksonville, she drove in a pair of runs with a double in the first game to lead Upstate to the 4-1 win, and had two doubles and a triple in the nightcap to lead the Spartans to an 8-4 win and the sweep. She is the second Spartan to win A-Sun Player of the Week honors since Upstate moved to the A-Sun and Division I last year. Lauren Quevedo earned player of the week honors last year. Morgan Childers has three career A-Sun Pitcher of the Week honors.
Gibbs Queen of The Doubles
With a double in the first inning of game two of the doubleheader against Jacksonville last Friday, Heidi Gibbs moved to the top of Upstate's all-time doubles list with 58 in her career. Prior to the double on Senior Day at Cyrill Stadium, Gibbs was tied atop the list with former Spartan great Krista Altom.
Spartans Set New Home Winning Record
After Upstate closed out its home season with a doubleheader sweep of Jacksonville last Friday, the Spartans finished the season with an 18-3 mark at Cyrill Stadium. The .857 winning percentage stands as the best home mark in the history of the program at Cyrill Stadium since it opened in 2002. Prior to this season, Upstate's best home record at Cyrill Stadium was 22-4 (.846) in 2006. Upstate is 130-38 all-time in eight seasons at the stadium, a .774 winning percentage at the facility.
Gibbs Moves Up All-Time Records List
Senior Heidi Gibbs' name appears 15 times on Upstate's career record list. She recently moved to the top of the all-time doubles list with 58 in her career. She ranks in the top-3 in nine categories and in the top-5 in astounding 13 categories. With two hits against Jacksonville last Friday, she moved into second place on Upstate's all-time hits list.
Childers Reaches 500 Career Strikeouts
With 13 strikeouts in a win and a save against Jacksonville last Friday, Upstate ace Morgan Childers reached 500 career strikeouts. She became Upstate's career strikeouts leader earlier this season and owns all of the program's strikeout records.
Spartans Score Consistently
Upstate has outscored its opponents 182-118 on the year and have done so by spreading out the damage throughout several innings. The Spartans have scored 20 or more runs in each of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings on the year. The fourth inning is the most productive inning with Upstate scoring 33 runs on the year and holding a plus-20 run differential in the frame. The fifth inning is the only inning Upstate has been outscored by its opponents, trailing 29-23 in the inning.
Number Crunching
With two multi-hit games at Appalachian State Tuesday, Crislyn Chewning moved into a tie with Kim Brasil with 13 multi-hit games to lead the Spartans. Chewning also tops Upstate with eight multi-RBI games, doubling the next closest Spartan, Lauren Quevedo. Heidi Gibbs ranks second on the team with 12 multi-hit games. Brasil currently owns the longest current hitting streak on the team at seven games. It also ties Gibbs and Keri Sarratt for the longest streak of the year.
Upstate 78th In NCAA RPI
In the latest RPI ranking released by the NCAA, Upstate is ranked 81st out of 284 Division I schools. The Spartans are the fifth-highest ranked A-Sun team in the ranking. Florida Gulf Coast is the highest ranked conference team at No. 25 and is followed by Campbell (53), Lipscomb (56), Mercer (58) and Upstate in the top-5. Kennesaw State, Upstate's opponent Friday, is ranked 105th, while Mercer, Upstate's opponent Saturday, is ranked 58th. The Spartans finished last year ranked 76th and the sixth-highest team in the A-Sun. However, Upstate was the third-highest ranked conference team at the completion of regular season play and slipped three positions following the A-Sun and NCAA tournaments.
