Game One | Game Two
Spartanburg, S.C. – Lipscomb used strong starting pitching to post a doubleheader sweep against USC Upstate Saturday from Harley Park. The Bisons won game one 3-0 before holding on to claim a 9-8 victory in game two.
Jeffrey Passantino (1-0) struck out nine and held Upstate to just four hits and no runs in 7.1 innings of work in game one to pick up his first victory of the season. Jason Ziegler pitched the final 1.2 innings and earned his third save of the season.
Blake Whitney (3-2) pitched a complete game for the Spartans and was saddled with the loss despite allowing just one earned run. Whitney surrendered only four hits and retired the first nine batters of the game before Michael Gigliotti led off the fourth with a bunt single.
Lipscomb broke the scoreless tie in the sixth inning when the Bisons capitalized on two Upstate throwing errors to build a 3-0 lead. Second baseman Mike Korte opened the inning with a double and came around to score when Adam Lee's sacrifice bunt was thrown wide of first base. Gigliotti followed with a bunt single and advanced to third on a second throwing error that also allowed Lee to score from second. Grant Massey produced the lone RBI of the inning with a sacrifice fly to plate Gigliotti.
Upstate chased Passantino after Daniel Fickas delivered a one-out triple and Erik Samples was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners in the eighth inning, but Ziegler came out to record back-to-back strikeouts to preserve the shutout.
Game two saw Upstate score first when Stephen Dowling laced an RBI single up the middle in the second inning to score Charlie Carpenter from third.
Lipscomb responded in the third inning when Adam Lee hit an inside-the-park home run to centerfield to tie the game. Jonathan Allison and Allan Hooker added RBIs in the fifth inning to put the Bisons ahead 3-1, and Lipscomb added three more runs in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth to open up a 9-1 advantage.
Upstate right fielder Jaden Savage opened the eighth inning with a triple to right and consecutive walks to Drew Fisher and Sam Kysor ignited a five-run inning and chased starter Brady Puckett in the process. Fickas drove in the first run with a bases loaded walk before a wild pitch by reliever Nick Andros allowed Fisher to score. Samples followed with a sacrifice fly and Zach Krider singled one batter later to plate Fickas from third. Charlie Carpenter capped the scoring with a double to left that allowed Krider to race around from first with the fifth run.
Upstate mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the ninth and brought the winning run to the plate, but Will Blalock retired Krider with a fly out to right to register his first save of the season. Kysor started the scoring with a single through the right side and took second when Fickas followed with a single to left. Samples then reached on a fielding error at third that allowed Kysor to score and a balk by Weller forced in a run and put Samples at second.
Puckett (4-1) picked up the win after pitching seven innings and allowing four runs on three hits. Zac Manuppelli (1-3) gave up three runs on six hits in five innings and suffered the loss.
Upstate returns to the diamond Tuesday at 3 p.m. when the Spartans travel to Clinton, S.C., to face in-state rival Presbyterian.
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