Spartan Summer Baseball Update
7/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate baseball team currently has nine different players participating in various collegiate summer leagues around the country.
Gaither Bumgardner (Fort Lawn, S.C./Great Falls), Brody Greer (Honea Path, S.C./Belton-Honea Path), Chris Knauff (Marietta, Ga./Walton) are spending their summer with the Spartanburg Blue Eagles of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League. Bumgardner and Knauff were all-star selections.
In the East-West All-Star game, played last night at Wofford College, Bumgardner pitched two innings of scoreless baseball, while Knauff retired all three batters that he faced.
Bumgardner has appeared in 23 games and has made six appearances on the hill. The rising sophomore ranks third on the team with a .308 average and has scored 10 runs and seven RBI on the season. He has logged 26.1 innings of work on the mound and owns a 3-0 mark with a 1.71 ERA in his six appearances.
Knauff has appeared in 12 games for the Blue Eagles, totaling 15.1 innings of work thus far. Knauff (1-2) owns a 1.76 ERA and is the team and league leader with eight saves.
Greer has appeared in 26 games and owns a .218 batting average. He is tied for fourth on the team with four extra base hits (three doubles, one triple). He has also scored 13 runs and driven in 13 runs.
Miller has seen action in 27 games for Spartanburg and is batting .213. He has five extra base hits on the season to go along with his 14 RBI and seven runs.
Andrew Wyant (Newton, N.C./Fred T. Foard) is spending his summer with the Catawba Valley Stars of the Carolina Virginia Collegiate Baseball League. The Stars play a 60-game schedule, with 14 of those games being against teams from the Coastal Plain League. In league games, Wyant owns a 0-3 record in five appearances (four starts) with a 4.30 ERA in 23 innings of work. He has struck out a team high 28 batters and has walked just five.
In non-league games, Wyant is 1-0 with a 4.74 ERA, tallying 19 innings of work in three starts. In his victory, the rising junior pitched 8.0 innings allowing two runs on four hits while striking out eight.
Phillip Brannon (Spartanburg, S.C./Spartanburg Methodist) is playing his summer baseball in the Coastal Plain League with the Forest City Owls. Brannon has appeared in a total of nine games and has made five starts. Brannon (3-1) has a 2.89 ERA and has one save on the season, logging 43.2 innings on the mound with 36 strikeouts, which is third-best on the team.
Andre Harris (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids C.C.) and Joe Barnes (Lake Orion, Mich./Grand Rapids C.C.) are both playing with the Michigan Bulls of the Michigan Collegiate Baseball League. The league is based in Livonia, Mich. which is a western suburb of Detroit. Meanwhile, Ryan Newell (Marietta, Ga./Marietta) is playing his summer baseball just outside of Atlanta with the East Cobb Patriots.
Players Mentioned
