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Spartanburg, S.C. – Kyle Colletta had four hits and two RBIs and Northern Kentucky held on to beat USC Upstate 7-6 Saturday in game two of a three-game series from Harley Park.
USC Upstate entered the bottom of the ninth trailing by four runs and put the tying run in scoring position, but Northern Kentucky relief pitcher Cody Cooper retired Jordan Miller with a groundout to shortstop to leave James Fowlkes stranded at second base and pick up his first save of the season.
Erik Samples started the rally in the ninth with a one-out single through the right side and advanced to second when Zach Krider drew a walk. Charlie Carpenter followed with an RBI double into the left field gap before Stephen Dowling plated the second run with a groundout to shortstop. Fowlkes then singled to third and took second on a throwing error on David Head.
Reliever Jake Shaw (2-4) earned the win after allowing one run on two hits in 2.1 innings of work in relief of starter Tyler Miller. Upstate starter Blake Whitney (3-3) gave up four runs in three innings and suffered the loss.
Upstate capitalized on a throwing error on Miller in the first inning to build a 2-0 lead. Daniel Fickas opened the inning with a single to center and moved to second when Samples followed with a walk. Miller then threw Krider's grounder wide of third in an attempt to retire Fickas, allowing both Fickas and Samples to score as the throw traveled halfway down the left field line.
Northern Kentucky took the lead in the third inning by scoring three runs with two outs off Whitney. Designated hitter Trey Ganns delivered a two-run double and Colletta added an RBI single two batters later to drive in Ganns.
The Norse tacked on two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles from Colletta and Caleb Lonkard to build a 6-2 advantage.
A sacrifice fly from Samples after a leadoff triple by Fickas in the seventh inning pulled Upstate with three runs, but Northern Kentucky answered in the eighth inning with its own sacrifice fly from Dominic Mercurio to regain a four-run edge.
Fickas and Fowlkes each finished with three hits for Upstate and Samples added two hits and one RBI.
USC Upstate and Northern Kentucky complete the series Sunday at 1 p.m. with Zac Manuppelli matching up against Matt Jefferson.
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