SPARTANBURG, S.C. – For the first time in two weeks, the USC Upstate softball will hit the road as they travel up I-26 to battle East Tennessee State for a Wednesday afternoon matchup in Johnson City, Tenn.
 
USC Upstate (16-4, 6-0 Big South) is facing East Tennessee State (10-6, 0-0 SoCon) for the third and fourth time this season. Earlier this year the Buccaneers traveled down to the Palmetto State to battle the Spartans in the Wings ETC… Classic at Cyrill Stadium. The two squads split a pair of games with the Buccaneers winning the finale.
 
The tournament finale win for the Buccaneers gave the Spartans their first loss of the season and it ended an 11-game winning streak in the series for USC Upstate. Despite the setback, the Spartans are 17-6 against ETSU since the 2009 season and Upstate holds a 7-3 away record against the Buccaneers. The last time the Spartans made the trek to the Volunteer State they came away with a double-header sweep over ETSU. The Spartans 4-3 eighth inning victory in game two was the last time these two squads headed to extra innings in the series.
 
The Spartans are coming off their second consecutive weekend sweep of a Big South opponent, with a trio of victories over Presbyterian College. In game one of the series Tiffany Dominuge (York, S.C.) hit a three-run homerun to centerfield to give the Spartans the lead. Bre Cooper (Massillon, Ohio) finished second on the team with a pair of RBI's and Peyton Darnell (Fort Mill, S.C.) collected a pair of hits to lead the Spartan offense.
 
In the second game of the series, Darnell hit a three-run homerun in the bottom of the first to give the Spartans an early advantage. Freshman Nyah Vogel (Apopka, Fla.) saw her first collegiate action and threw 4.0 innings of no-hit softball to pick up the win inside the circle.
 
In the series finale Darnell, Domingue and Madison Lanoux (Fleming Island, Fla.) each recorded a pair of hits and a pair or RBI's in the Spartans run-rule victory. Mallie Brown (Stockbridge, Ga.) picked up the complete game win as she picked up her eighth victory of the season.
 
This past week both Cooper and Darnell earned Big South weekly honors for their performances on the field. For Darnell this was her first career Player of the Week honor and she joins teammate Marisa Soterakis (Miramar, Fla.) as the only Spartans to hold the honor so far, this season. Cooper earned Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season after she led the team with eight runs scored. USC Upstate has now earned Freshman of the Week honors four consecutive weeks in a row.   
 
USC Upstate sits atop the Big South standings and leads the conference in 13 out of 16 statistical categories this season. Offensively, Cooper leads the Spartans with a .368 batting average, while Darnell leads the team in home runs (6) and RBI's (23). Junior shortstop Sarah Price (Landrum, S.C.) leads the team with 23 hits on the season. In the circle, Brown leads the team with a 2.18 era and a team high 72 strikeouts on the season.     
 
East Tennessee State is currently coming off a road split with North Carolina Central on Sunday afternoon. The Buccaneers won the first game in run rule fashion before falling 8-7 in the night cap to the Eagles. ETSU has is 6-4 at home this season and they have won three straight contests dating back to March 14^th.
 
Lilly Holston and Julia Fritz lead the Buccaneer offense this season, Holston is hitting .486 on the year and it tied for the team lead in runs scored (10) and she currently leads the team with 13 RBI's on the season. Fritz, is batting .333 this season and leads the team with 18 hits, 8 doubles and 32 stolen bases.
 
In the circle Kelly Schmidt boasts a 6-2 record on the season with a 1.17 era. Schmidt has won back-to-back SoCon Pitcher of the Week honors for her performance on the field. Schmidt also leads the Buccaneer pitching staff with 6 complete games, 47.2 innings pitched, 38 strike outs and opponents are hitting just .193 off of her. Mackenzie Dyson or Taylor Boling will be the other pitcher the Spartans will most likely see, as both have made at least three starts on the season.
 
The games on Wednesday afternoon will not be lived streamed, but live stats and a recap of the day's action can be found at upstatespartans.com. 
 
Attendance Policies
East Tennessee State is allowing a 30% stadium capacity this season at softball games.
 
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