SPARTANBURG, S.C. – USC Upstate baseball dropped a close contest against Campbell Friday night to open a crucial three-game Big South series. Despite erasing a four-run deficit midway through the game, the Spartans fell 6-5 to the Camels to snap their 11-game conference win streak and fall to 34-11 overall and 25-10 in league play this season. Campbell improved to 28-14 (23-9 BSC) with the win.
"It was a tough game tonight, but an exciting back-and-forth game. I liked how we responded after falling behind multiple times. We missed a couple opportunities late and that hurt. We've got to limit the free stuff. We walked in the winning run and that hurt a lot, but I'm proud of our effort. We were ready to play and the energy was great. We had a couple miscues, and when you're playing good clubs, those little miscues can haunt you. We've got to turn the page, get some rest, and be ready to play tomorrow. I felt like it was going to be a very competitive series. We saw that tonight with game one, and I don't expect anything different tomorrow," said head coach Mike McGuire.
Jack Hennessy drilled three consecutive leadoff hits in the game to finish 3-for-5 at the plate with a pair of runs scored. Noah Rabon tallied a pair of hits and came up with a multiple crucial defensive plays at third base. Jeff Taylor drove in a pair of runs on the night with a single up the middle in the fifth inning.
Jordan Marks made his final Friday night start at Harley Park and went 6.0 solid innings with five strikeouts and just two walks allowed. He gave up just six hits and three earned runs on the day.
Derek Sivec came on in the top of the seventh and threw six straight strikes before Austin Morgan took over with one out and a runner on first. Despite walking in the game-winning run for Campbell, Morgan offered 2.2 solid innings to close out the game. Sivec picked up the loss in his first decision of the year.
The Camels got on the board first with a solo shot over the right field wall from Connor Denning in the top of the first, and added two more in the second off a sac bunt and a defensive miscue.
The Spartans responded in the bottom of the third after a pair of singles from Hennessy and Devin Buckner followed by Jason Matthews' second walk of the day to load the bases with one out for Julian Rip, who knocked in Hennessy with a shot to third to make it 3-1.
Campbell tacked on two more runs in the top of the fifth after another defensive miscue, but Upstate answered that with four runs off three hits and back-to-back walks to tie things up in the bottom of the fifth. Hennessy drilled his third leadoff single up the middle and Rabon ripped a single to left, and the left fielder bobbled the ball, allowing Hennessy and Rabon to take third and second. With a 2-1 count on Buckner at the plate, Campbell made a pitching change, but Buckner still drew the walk to load the bases. After that, Matthews drew his third walk of the day with nowhere to go, pushing Hennessy home and keeping the bases loaded with no outs. Rip reached on a fielder's choice before Taylor's two-RBI single up the middle pulled the Spartans within one run, and then Rip scored on a wild pitch to even things up at 5-5.
The Camels loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a hit by pitch in the top of the seventh, and with two outs, what would end up being the game-winning run was walked in to make it 6-5.
UP Next for the Spartans
The Spartans will look to bounce back in tomorrow's doubleheader against the Camels beginning at 2 p.m. The senior day ceremony will take place at approximately 1:35 p.m.
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