SPARTANBURG, S.C. – USC Upstate baseball took the series finale against Toledo 7-6 Sunday afternoon to complete the series sweep over the Rockets. The win gave Upstate its first opening weekend sweep since 2016.
"This was a great way to start the year. We had a couple close ballgames in the series, and I think that's good for us as a club as we learn to play the close ones and find a way to win. Ben Ferrer had a rough first inning today, but I liked the way he settled in. I think it says a lot about him and his competitive nature to pitch as deep as he did after that," said head coach Mike McGuire. "The way we answered right away offensively was big. I thought we did a lot of great things offensively early. From the sixth inning on it was a battle of the bullpen, and obviously Kevin Davis was lights out filling up the strike zone with his heater. He's a tough matchup against anybody. I liked what I saw this weekend, and we're only going to get better."
Kevin Davis made his season debut as he took the mound with one out in the top of the seventh and struck out eight of nine batters he faced in the last 2.2 innings for the Spartans. His dominating performance earned him his first save of the season.
Jeff Taylor robbed Trace Hatfield in left field for the second out of the top of the fifth to keep some Toledo runs off the board. He also batted 2-for-4 on the day with two RBI. Cameron MacIntosh recorded a pair of hits along with two RBI and a run.
Ben Ferrer got the win on the mound after tossing 5.2 innings with eight strikeouts.
Scoring Summary
T1 | Darryn Davis ripped a leadoff single up the middle, and John Servello followed that with another single to left to set up Chris Meyers for a three-run homer over the right field wall for an early 3-0 Toledo lead. Ben Ferrer retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.
B1 | The Spartans answered back in the bottom of the first to take the lead, as Julian Rip reached on an errant throw by Toledo's short stop to give Upstate its first base runner of the game. With two outs, Noah Rabon singled to left before Jack Gallagher drew a walk to load the bases. Cameron MacIntosh drew another walk to push Rip across home and keep the bases loaded, setting Jeff Taylor up for a two-RBI single to right. Damon Maynard then sent MacIntosh home for the go-ahead run on another single to right to give Upstate a 4-3 lead.
B2 | The Spartans extended their lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the second as Jack Hennessy was hit by a pitch to lead things off. Jason Matthews burned Toledo's center fielder to knock in Hennessy for an RBI double before making it home on Devin Buckner's groundout to third.
T6 | Toledo got a run back in the top of the sixth on a pinch-hit leadoff homer by Nicky Winterstein that made it a 6-4 ballgame.
B6 | With two outs, Toledo walked three straight Spartan batters to load the bases and Matthews crossed the plate on a passed ball to push Upstate's lead to 7-4.
T7 | Meyers was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and it forced a pitching change for the Spartans as Jake Cubbler made his Upstate debut in relief of Will Lancaster. Upstate then got into a jam after Hatfield singled to right and both base runners advanced on a passed ball. Sykes knocked in Meyers with a sac fly to left, and Winterstein singled to right to drive in Hatfield and cut Toledo's deficit to 7-6. Kevin Davis took the mound and fanned back-to-back Toledo batters to get out of the jam.
UP Next for the Spartans
Upstate heads out on the road next weekend for a three-game series at College of Charleston. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and 1 p.m. start on Sunday.
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