SCHEDULE UPDATE AS OF 3/26/21 AT 10 A.M.
Game one has been pushed back to a 6 p.m. start.

Weekend Series MatchUP
Game 1: Friday, March 26 | 6:00 p.m. EST
Game 2: Saturday, March 27 (DH) | 1:00 p.m. EST
Game 3: Saturday, March 27 (DH) | 4:30 p.m. EST
USC Upstate (15-3, 8-3 BSC) at Winthrop University (6-6, 3-1 BSC)
The Winthrop Ballpark | Rock Hill, S.C.

Projected Starting Pitchers
Game 1: RHP Jordan Marks [3-1, 2.20 ERA, 37K] vs. RHP Tyler Jones [1-1, 2.40 ERA, 15K]
Game 2: RHP Alex Garbrick [4-0, 1.35 ERA, 31K] vs. RHP Daniel Blair [0-1, 6.00 ERA, 7K]
Game 3: TBA vs. TBA

Series History
The Spartans and Eagles have met nine times, dating back to Feb. 25, 2014 when the Winthrop defeated Upstate 13-5 in Rock Hill. The Spartans took five of six against Winthrop in a span from April 8, 2014 to May 16, 2019 and hold a 5-4 advantage overall against the Eagles. Winthrop has taken the last two contests against Upstate, and in the most recent matchup between the two clubs on May 8, 2019, the Eagles defeated the Spartans 9-1 in Spartanburg.

Last Time Out
Upstate is coming off a commanding 13-0 home win over Presbyterian this past Tuesday, in which nine different Spartans combined for thirteen hits—including six extra-base hits. The Spartan offense started slow, but came alive in the middle innings with back-to-back five-run efforts in the bottom of the fourth and fifth. Four Spartan pitchers combined for the five-hit shutout—Upstate's third of the season, and first since their March 6 matchup with Radford.

Winthrop enters the weekend series having won their midweek matchup at home against Charleston Southern 4-1. The Eagles started fast and scored two runs in the bottom of the first before adding another insurance run in the fourth and the seventh inning. Freshman Willie Lumpkin struck out three, giving up just one earned run en route to the team's first home conference win.

Ones to Watch
Upstate:

• Freshman Noah Rabon continued his hot streak at the plate against Presbyterian College on Tuesday, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI. He has tallied six doubles on the season, good enough for second on the Spartan roster. Five of those double have come in Rabon's last three games. His success at the plate and extra-base hits over the past week have made his slugging percentage climb to .476, which leads all qualified Spartan hitters.
• Upstate ace and Friday starter Jordan Marks continues to lead from the front for the Spartans, and he will look to bounce back with a win on Friday night following his first loss of the season last time out against High Point. Marks continues to impress with a season ERA of 2.20 and an opposing batting average of .215, both of which rank amongst the league leaders at fifth and eighth, respectively. He holds a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 12.33, which ranks 12th in all of Division I.
• Game two starter Alex Garbrick enters the weekend with a league-best 1.35 ERA and an opposing batting average of just .200. Garbrick is coming off a strong outing in his most recent start on March 20 against High Point in which he delivered five solid innings of work without surrendering a run to earn his fourth win of the year, which leads the conference.

Winthrop:

• Freshman Andrew Jenner enters the weekend as one of the Eagles' top offensive threats. He currently leads the team in hits (18) and runs (9), and ranks second on the team in slugging percentage (.478) and batting average (.391). Jenner's numbers at the plate also stack up well in the conference rankings, as he currently ranks fourth in the Big South in batting average and sixteenth in hits, despite having played less games than every player ranked ahead of him in the hit rankings.
• Another freshman, Ty Hooks, has recently come on strong as an offensive threat for the Eagles. Hooks ranks first on the team in batting average at .474, and third on the team in OPS at 1.045. Hooks carries a four-game hit streak into this weekend's series, and is coming off of a 2-for-3 performance at the plate against Charleston Southern this past Tuesday and a 5-for-9 weekend at the plate this past weekend in the series against Longwood.

Notes

• Upstate head coach Mike McGuire continues to close in on 400 career wins, and now sits just two victories shy of the milestone with a career record of 398-282. With the win against PC this past Tuesday, Coach McGuire's record at Upstate is now 28-8.
• Coach McGuire is no stranger to Winthrop as he was an assistant coach there from 1997-2002 and again in 2006-2011. In 2001, Winthrop's baseball program set a school record with 48 wins. During McGuire's tenure, Winthrop averaged 35 wins per season. Assistant coach Adam Brown also spent a season at Winthrop as the Director of Operations in 2010.
• The Spartans continue to lead the conference in a number of offensive categories, including team batting average (.295), hits (177), runs (126), RBI (113), hit-by-pitch (39), and on-base percentage (.400).
• Upstate's pitching staff also sees their impressive season reflected in the conference statistical rankings, as the Spartans currently lead the Big South in team ERA (2.41), runs allowed (47), earned runs (43), walks (43), and opposing batting average (.214).
• National Rankings: fourth in team ERA (2.41), eighth in team strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.88), 20th in fielding percentage (.981), 31st in batting average (.295).
• The Spartans have recently garnered attention from 11Point7: The College Baseball Podcast as volunteer assistant coach Patrick McGuff was named to the watch list for the Casey Dykes Volunteer Assistant Coach of the Year Award and Alex Garbrick was named to the watch list for the Kyle Lewis Mid-Major Player of the Year Award.
• The Spartans continue to receive votes in the USA Today Coaches' Poll and the NCBWA Top 30 poll for the second week in a row.

UP Next for the Spartans
Upstate will travel to Radford next week for a three-game series against the Highlanders on Thursday, April 1, and Friday, April 2. First pitch for game one on Thursday is set for 6 p.m. with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. The series finale will follow at approximately 4:30 p.m. This will be the second series between the Spartans and Highlanders this season, as Upstate swept Radford in the conference opener earlier this month.

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