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Contact: David Beall, dbeall@uscupstate.edu

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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate baseball team sent nine pitchers to the mound Sunday afternoon and ETSU scored in each of the last five innings to take the final contest of the weekend 10-4 and pick up the Atlantic Sun Conference series victory at Harley Park.

The Spartans (11-7, 1-2 A-Sun) drop their opening conference set of the year, while the Bucs (11-5, 1-1 A-Sun) win both ends of the weekend series and jump to the top of the league standings.

For the second straight game Upstate scored in the opening inning when a two-out rally broke out thanks to a single by Tyler Lesch and a run-scoring double from Brandon Patterson to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. 

That lead held true until the third inning when ETSU manufactured a run on a double, sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly to knot the score at a run apiece.

The Bucs took advantage of a crucial Upstate error in the fifth inning and scored three unearned runs in the frame to take a 4-1 lead. ETSU continued to capitalize on the Spartan relief pitchers from there, scoring over the remaining four innings to pick up the victory. 

Trailing 7-1 in the seventh, Upstate had a glimmer of hope when Lesch lined a two-run triple to the gap in left center and came around to score on a Brandon Patterson sacrifice fly to make it 7-4, but the high-powered ETSU offense scored a run in the eighth and two more in the ninth to pick up the 10-4 victory and secure the series win.

Chris Knauff (0-1) suffered the loss for the Spartans as he entered to start the fifth frame and was lifted after issuing back-to-back walks, base runners that both came around to score and put ETSU on top for good. 

Clinton Freeman (4-0) stayed unbeaten on the year with 7.0 strong innings, allowing seven hits and four earned runs, while walking two and striking out five.

Lesch and Tyler Miller paced the Upstate offense as each outfielder recorded a pair of hits, while Patterson drove in two of the four runs for the Spartans. 

The Spartans return to action Wednesday afternoon, welcoming UNC Asheville to town for a non-conference matchup at Harley Park. First pitch against the Bulldogs is set for 6 p.m. against the Bulldogs.

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