Spartans Close Out Regular Season at Home Against NKU
4/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Spartanburg, S.C. – Having already clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming A-Sun Tournament and at least a share of the A-Sun regular season championship, the USC Upstate softball team will close out the regular season when it plays host to A-Sun foe Northern Kentucky Saturday and Sunday at Cyrill Stadium. Action begins at 1 p.m. each day.
Upstate enters the weekend with a 37-8 overall record and a 15-2 mark in the A-Sun. The Spartans own a three-game lead over Kennesaw State and need either one win over Northern Kentucky or a loss by Kennesaw State against Lipscomb to clinch their second consecutive A-Sun regular season championship outright. A three-game sweep by NKU and a three-game sweep of Kennesaw State over Lipscomb would give the conference co-champions in the Spartans and the Owls, though Upstate would remain the No. 1 seed in the A-Sun Tournament after sweeping Kennesaw State earlier this year.
Northern Kentucky enters the weekend with a 5-35 overall record and a 1-14 mark in the conference. The Norse picked up a win against Florida Gulf Coast in March for its lone conference victory of the season. They have lost 15 games in a row heading into the weekend.
Upstate is 6-0 all-time against Northern Kentucky and have swept the season series in each of the last two seasons. Last year, the Spartans pounded out 51 hits and scored 49 runs in three games, posting the most hits and runs in a series against any A-Sun team since joining the conference for the 2008 season.
Upstate will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday when the 10 seniors are recognized prior to the start of the game. The short recognition follows a special senior banquet that took place Thursday night.
Fans can follow the action at upstatespartans.com with links to live stats for all three games of the series. Complete postgame coverage will also be available.
