Anatomy of a Record: Green's 95 Base Knocks
6/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After a season in which he broke the program's single-season hits record, USC Upstate's Blake Green was honored with a postseason award by head coach Matt Fincher to honor Green's accomplishment.
In the bottom of the sixth inning in the series opener against Mercer (May 14), Green singled up the middle to pick up his school-record 84th of 2011, surpassing former Spartan Brad Wingo's mark of 83 during the 2006 campaign.
After failing to record a hit in the second game of the Mercer series, Green closed the season with four multi-hit games as the Spartan outfielder tallied two hits in the finale against Mercer and totaled eight hits in three games at Campbell. He had two hits in each of the first two games to push his season total to 91, thus becoming the first Spartan to ever record 90 or more hits in one season. Green was 4-for-5 at the dish in the finale at Campbell as he finished with 95 hits in 2011.
Green had a slow start to his senior season went hitless in two of his first three games and owned a batting average of .265 over the first eight games. The Upstate leadoff man had just two multi-hit games in the month of February, with those coming against Xavier (2 hits, Feb. 19) and against Dayton (3 hits, Feb. 26).
"I wanted to go out there and have fun during my final year," said Green. "I started a little slow, but I wasn't going to let that get me down, I knew things would start clicking."
The four-year letterwinner opened March with a bang as he collected four hits at Wofford (Mar. 1). The 4-for-6 effort raised Green's batting average 60 points as it increased from .265 to .325. Green recorded a base hit in 16 of Upstate's 18 games in March and finished with a .459 batting average for the month. He collected multiple hits in 11 different games including a five-game stretch from March 12-19.
In the finale against Jacksonville (Mar. 12) he collected two hits before posting two hits against Charleston Southern (Mar. 16) and North Florida (Mar. 18). In the doubleheader against UNF (Mar. 19), Green recorded three hits in each game to lead the Spartans to a twinbill split. Green opened the series against Florida Gulf Coast, a 12-5 Upstate win on March 25th, with four hits before posting two hits in each of the final two games. Green closed out the month with a single hit against Wofford (Mar. 29) to sit just two points shy of a .400 average.
It took Green just two games to surpass the .400 plateau, though his stay would be short lived. After a 2-for-5 effort in the opener against No. 20 Stetson, Green posted a 2-for-4 mark in game two of the series to raise his season average to .402. In the finale, he finished with just one hit and his average dropped to .397.
After failing to record a hit against Gardner-Webb (Apr. 6), Green went on an 11-game hit streak from April 8-23. After opening the hit streak with a single hit in the first four games, Green recorded at least two hits in the next seven games, five of which were three-hit affairs. His average peaked at .398 before a 0-for-4 effort in the final game of the month against The Citadel sent him back to .389.
Green continued his trek toward a new school record as he opened May with three hits at Virginia Tech on May 4th. His 3-for-5 performance pushed his season total to 75 and he was within just eight hits of tying the single-season record with 11 games remaining. After being held without a hit in the opener at Kennesaw State (May 6), Green posted four hits over the course of May 7th's doubleheader at Kennesaw State, followed by three total hits during the midweek (1 hit, Wofford, May 10; 2 hits, The Citadel, May 11).
Green stepped into the batter's box in the bottom of the first inning against Mercer (May 14), sitting just one hit shy of tying the school-record of 83 hits in a single-season (Brad Wingo, 2006). On a 3-2 offering from Mercer's Brandon Love, Green singled to third base to tally hit number 83 of the 2011 campaign.
"I didn't really think too much about that particular hit," Green added. "I was only focused on getting the record, I wasn't settling for a tie."
In the bottom of the third, Green again stepped to the plate, this time looking to make history. Green, facing a 2-2 count, hit a sharp liner that appeared to be the record, but an all out effort by short stop Evan Boyd robbed Green of the record setting hit. In the fifth, Green popped out to the second baseman to remain at 83.
An inning later, there would be a new single-season hit king as with two outs, Green singled back up the middle to pick up hit number 84 of the 2011 season. Green extended the record in the eighth when he doubled to center field as the Mercer left fielder and center fielder called each other off and the ball dropped harmlessly to the ground.
"A hit is a hit," said Green. "If that blooper would have given me the record then that would have been fine. I didn't care what type of hit it was, I just wanted the record."
Green was 0-for-3 in the second game against Mercer (May 15), but posted 10 hits over the final four games to finish with 95 hits and a .399 batting average. Green, a First-Team All-A-Sun selection, finished the regular-season at the top of the Atlantic Sun with 95 hits while ranking second with his .399 average. Green earned a total of 31 free passes (23 BB, 8 HBP) and was sixth in the A-Sun with a .468 on-base percentage.
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