USC Upstate Travels to Face No. No. 6/7 Georgia for Wednesday Showdown
4/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team will travel to Athens, Ga. on Wednesday evening to face the No. 6/7 Georgia Bulldogs in a non-conference game at Jack Turner Stadium.
USC Upstate (29-15) opens a four-game road trip on Wednesday after hosting its final home conference series of the season last weekend against Jacksonville. The Spartans split a doubleheader on Saturday while the finale on Sunday was canceled due to the weather. USC Upstate dropped the first game 3-2 before responding in game two with a 3-2 victory.
Kayla Hussey and Logan Morris led the Spartans offensively with three hits apiece in the Jacksonville series while Morris and Karla Beasley tied for the team-lead with two RBI. Erin Hill registered one win the circle and Caylie Van Auken picked up her first collegiate save.
Beasley leads the USC Upstate offense this season with a .397 average and 13 home runs while Morris has driven in a team-leading 34 RBI. In the circle, Christina Biggerstaff is 14-8 with a 1.69 ERA.
Georgia enters the contest with a 37-6 overall record and is ranked sixth in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll and seventh in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll. Cortni Emanuel is hitting .440 this season while Alyssa DiCarlo adds 14 home runs and 51 RBI. In the circle, Brittany Gray is 16-1 with a 0.48 ERA. The Bulldogs are under the direction of 18th-year head coach Lu Harris-Champer.
The Spartans are facing Georgia for the sixth time in program history with the Bulldogs holding a 3-2 lead in the all-time series. The teams are facing each other for the first time since April 15, 2015 when USC Upstate defeated 11th-ranked Georgia 4-3.
Fans can follow the action on www.upstatespartans.com via live stats. The game is being streamed on SEC Network Plus. Updates will also be posted on the USC Upstate softball Twitter page (@UpstateSoftball).
The Spartans play their final conference series of the season this weekend, April 21-22, traveling to Stetson for three games.
Follow USC Upstate softball on Facebook (UpstateAthletics), Twitter (@UpstateSoftball), Instagram (@upstatespartans), YouTube (USCUpstateAthletics) and text/e-mail alerts (www.upstatespartans.com/list-signup).
