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Contact: David Beall, dbeall@uscupstate.edu

Box Score (PDF) | Play-by-play

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The USC Upstate baseball team plated a pair of first-inning runs against No. 5 South Carolina Tuesday evening, but the Gamecocks bounced back to take down the Spartans 12-3 at Carolina Stadium in non-conference action. 

The Spartans (10-5) drop back-to-back games for the first time this season and fall to 0-7 in the all-time series with the Gamecocks (14-2), while South Carolina wins its seventh straight contest and improves to 11-1 on the year at Carolina Stadium.

"What happened tonight was when they needed to get an out they did and when we needed to get a hit we didn't," said USC Upstate Head Coach Matt Fincher. "We just look forward to the next game and next opportunity. This is a learning experience and I have every reason to believe next time we will be successful." 

Upstate got things rolling right out of the gates when Jordan Stampler and Tyler Lesch led off the game with back-to-back walks. After a sacrifice bunt from Gaither Bumgardner moved the runners over, Luke Weber lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Stampler and give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.

The bats were just getting going as Daniel Seeba and Brandon Patterson lined back-to-back singles up the middle to plate Lesch and cap a two-run first inning for the Spartans. 

The Gamecocks threatened in the bottom of the opening frame, loading the bases with one out, but LB Dantzler lined a ball off starting pitcher Chris Cox that found Erik Samples at second and he flipped it to Brody Greer who turned the double play to end the threat.

The Spartans were not so lucky in the second inning however, as Connor Bright led off the frame with a triple to right-center to open the floodgates for five hits and three runs to give the Gamecocks a 3-2 lead. 

Upstate had a golden chance to jump back in front in the third inning when Samples sent a liner up the middle with the bases loaded and two outs, but Joey Pankake made a diving stop and flipped to second for the force out to save two runs.

South Carolina carried the defensive momentum over to the bottom half of the third, tacking on another run on Upstate relief pitcher Josh Howard, but an inning-ending double play cut the damage to just a run as the Gamecocks took a 4-2 advantage.

The Spartans bounced back in the fourth when Tyler Miller singled to center field to lead off the inning and came around to score when Stampler sent a liner up the middle to cut the lead to one at 4-3. 

South Carolina broke the game wide open in the fourth inning when Brison Celek came to the dish with the bases juiced and promptly sent all three Gamecocks racing home with a double to gap in right center.

The lead continued to grow with two more South Carolina runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh to pick up a 12-3 victory. 

Upstate had all the chances they could hope for, but the Spartans stranded 14 runners on the evening, including two in the ninth when the Gamecocks sealed the deal.

Five pitchers took the mound for Upstate with Cox, Howard and Chad Sobotka tossing 2.0 innings apiece, while Bumgardner and Samples combined to record the final six outs. 

The Spartans return to action over the weekend, opening Atlantic Sun Conference action with a three-game series with ETSU at Harley Park. First pitch Friday is slated for 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. start Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday in the series finale.

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