CHARLESTON, S.C. – USC Upstate baseball took a 10-3 series-opening win against the College of Charleston Friday night to improve to 4-0 on the season. After having their 4-0 lead cut down to 4-3 late in the game, the Spartans were able to take advantage of some freebees from Charleston pitchers in the top of the ninth and place some timely hits to put up six runs in the inning to secure the win.
"It was another great ballgame tonight, and I'm really proud of our guys. It was our first road test and we played a really good College of Charleston club that's traditionally been a really good program and one of the best midmajors in our state. That's what we're striving for in our program," said head coach Mike McGuire. "Jordan Marks was exceptional again tonight and really gave us a great outing, and Kevin Davis was great at the end of the ballgame. I'm really proud of what we did offensively in scoring some early runs and having some good situational hitting up and down the lineup. We took advantage of some free passes late and had some good at bats late. We made some great defensive plays tonight as well."
Jordan Marks once again got the start on the mound and went 6.2 innings with eight strikeouts tonight to get his second win of the year. He gave up zero walks, four hits, and one run in his day of work.
Kevin Davis entered the game in the bottom of the eighth to get the Spartans out of the inning and went on to strike out the side in the bottom of the ninth to pick up his second consecutive save in as many games.
Jack Gallagher extended his hit streak to seven games with an RBI single in the top of the first and ended the day with two hits, a run and an RBI.
Jason Matthews, Noah Rabon, and Cam MacIntosh have all also recorded a hit in every game so far this season, and each of them ended the day with a hit and an RBI. Chase Matheny and Julian Rip each also recorded an RBI on the day.
Scoring Summary
T1 | Rip was hit by a pitch and made it around to third on Devin Buckner's single to center. Rabon then singled through the left side to knock in Rip before Gallagher drove in Buckner with a single up the middle to give Upstate an early 2-0 lead.
T4 | Gallagher reached on a leadoff infield single and made it to second on an errant throw by Charleston's third baseman before MacIntosh ripped an RBI double down the right field line to score Gallagher. Adam Grob was hit by a pitch and Camp walked to load the bases, which set Matheny up for a sacrifice fly to right to score MacIntosh and put the Spartans up 4-0.
B7 | The Cougars got a run back in the bottom of the seventh when Luke Stageberg ripped a two-out RBI single to center to score Ari Sechopoulos.
B8 | Things got interesting in the bottom of the eighth as Austin Morgan walked back-to-back batters to lead things off, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Morgan struck out Harrison Hawkins for the first out before Davis took over on the mound and tossed a wild pitch that both runners were once again able to advance on, scoring a run. Sechopoulos knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 4-3 ball game.
T9 | Jack Hennessy stepped in to pinch hit for Adam Grob and was hit by a pitch before Camp and Matheny walked to load the bases with no outs. Back-to-back RBI singles from Matthews and Rip gave Upstate a 6-3 lead, and Matthews would eventually score on a passed ball before Rip made it home on a throwing error by the Charleston pitcher. Rabon crossed the plate to make it 10-3 as MacIntosh grounded into a double play to end the inning.
UP Next for the Spartans
Upstate will look to take the series against the Cougars in game two tomorrow at 2 p.m.
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