Upstate Closes Home Schedule Tuesday with Charleston Southern
5/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Game 52: Charleston Southern (29-21) vs. USC Upstate (15-36)
Tuesday | 5.13.2014 | 6:00 p.m. EST
Spartanburg, S.C. | Harley Park
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate baseball team wraps up its 2014 home schedule and non-conference slate Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. when the Spartans host Charleston Southern from Harley Park.
Upstate freshman right-hander Eric Birklund (1-8, 7.16), who picked up his first career win Friday against Jacksonville, will take on Charleston Southern right-hander Joe Pistacchio (1-1, 4.50).
The Spartans enter the week coming off a weekend series against Jacksonville that saw Upstate collect 32 hits and score 24 runs. Senior Tyler Lesch turned in a 5-for-5 showing Friday in game one and now ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun with 69 hits thus far this season.
Upstate also featured eight extra-base hits against the Dolphins, which included the first career home runs from Stephen Dowling and AJ Mackey. Dowling, Erik Samples, Daniel Seeba and Justin Allen all registered triples during the three-game series as well.
On defense, Upstate turned a triple play in game one and is one of only nine schools in the NCAA to have accomplished that feat the season, joining Alabama, Baylor, The Citadel, Lehigh, Penn State, Stetson, West Virginia and New Mexico State.
USC Upstate and Charleston Southern will be meeting on the diamond for the 13th time when the two schools face off Tuesday evening. Upstate is 7-5 all-time against Charleston Southern and has won three of the last five games between the two. The Buccaneers, however, posted a 7-1 victory earlier this season in Charleston behind the three RBIs of Will Hartsell.
USC Upstate is 76-57 all-time in games against schools from the Big South Conference. The Spartans have played eight games against the Big South this season and have posted a 2-7 record. In its most recent game against the conference, Upstate dropped a 9-4 decision at UNC Asheville April 21.
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