Upstate Set For Doubledip With South Carolina
5/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 11, 2009
Live Video (Gamecocks Online All-Access) | Gametracker (Game One) | Gametracker (Game Two)
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Averaging 9.2 runs and hitting .351 as a team in the last six games, the USC Upstate baseball team will head to Columbia, S.C., on Tuesday for a twi-night doubleheader with South Carolina playing some of its best baseball of the season, having won four of its last six since a nine-day break for final exams. The Spartans will also be looking for revenge on the Gamecocks, who won the first meeting of the year with the Spartans, 14-6, at Harley Park on April 21.
The Spartans will play two seven-inning games against the Gamecocks, helping to ease stress on the team's pitching staff before it heads into its final A-Sun series, a three-game set with Campbell that starts on Thursday. It's the Upstate hitters, though, who will look to lead the team, with junior Ryan Wilkins hitting over .500 in the last six games and both sophomore Keith Bisgounis and senior Eric Guillen are hitting better than .400. Three others (seniors Kyle Simpson and Phillip Morgan and freshman Austin Moyer) are hitting over .300 in the last six games.
Quick Hits
•Senior Phillip Morgan is on a Division I-era record 20-game hitting streak. In that time, he is hitting .442 (38-for-86) with nine doubles, three homers, 16 runs and 25 RBI. Morgan's hitting streak is the longest since Chris Nowak hit in 27 straight games in 2002.
• Senior Eric Guillen moved past Jason Westbrook (1993-95, 179) and into 10th place in school history in career hits on Saturday, thanks to a five-hit doubleheader against UNF. He now has 183 career hits.
• In his last 19 games, junior Ryan Wilkins has raised his batting average from .077 to .349 by going 29-for-73 (.397) with 21 runs and 15 RBI. Wilkins is currently tied for fifth in the A-Sun with three triples.
• Sophomore Keith Bisgounis is 8-for-19 (.421) with five runs and two RBI in the last five games.
• Senior Dennis McCraney has appeared in 74 career games on the mound, just two away from the school record of 76 set by Chris Fowler from 1989-92.
• Senior Eric Guillen is hitting .407 (11-for-27) with nine runs, three doubles, a triple and 11 RBI in the last six games. The shortstop saw a string of six straight multiple-hit games end Sunday against UNF.
• Senior Phillip Morgan's two homers in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against UNF was the first time a Spartan had two homers in a game since Eric Davis hit two out against Augusta State on April 23, 2005.
• Upstate saw a string of five straight 10-hit games snap on Sunday against UNF. The string included the first 20-hit game in the DI era in the 21-16 loss to the Ospreys on Saturday when Upstate had 22 hits.
