SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Looking to bounce back Sunday afternoon and capture its series with Northern Kentucky, USC Upstate baseball took advantage of eight free bases with timely hitting while getting quality pitching from the bullpen in a 6-4 victory in the series finale at Cleveland S. Harley Park.
The Spartans kickstarted the offense in the first inning, plating three runs as redshirt sophomore leftfielder
Noah Rabon (two) and senior second baseman
Cameron MacIntosh (one) drove in runs with a double and groundout, respectively. In the sixth, freshman shortstop
Cole Caruso brought home two more with a single through the left side before freshman catcher
Jace Rinehart pushed across Upstate's final run with a single to right in the eighth.
Coming on in relief of redshirt sophomore starting pitcher
Sawyer Worrell in the fifth, redshirt junior left-hander
Derek Sivec set the tone for the Upstate bullpen as he recorded five of his eight outs via strikeout, leading a nine punchout effort for the bullpen. Freshman right-hander
Julian Parson and senior righty
Kevin Davis each pitched an inning, striking out two batters with Davis recording his second save of the season.
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 6; Northern Kentucky 4
Records: USC Upstate (10-5; 0-0 Big South); Northern Kentucky (5-9; 0-0 Horizon)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.
Scoring Summary
- B1: Striking first, much like in game one of the series, Upstate's Noah Rabon drove home the first runs of the game with a double down the leftfield line to plate Noah Sullivan and Devin Buckner. Cameron MacIntosh brought home Rabon with a groundout to short to cap a three-run first inning.
- T3: Northern Kentucky got a run back in the third as Jayden Wakeham doubled to bring home Treyvin Moss to cut into the Spartan lead.
- B6: The Spartans got their runs back as Cole Caruso singled through the left side with the bases loaded, driving in Rabon and Sullivan.
- T8: The Norse tallied another run with a solo homer by Brennan Gick to right-center in the eighth.
- B8: Upstate answered with a run of its own in the frame as Jace Rinehart took a pitch into rightfield, scoring Easton Cullison to push the Spartan advantage to 6-2.
- T9: Northern Kentucky scratched two runs in its final trip to the plate with Moss tripling down the rightfield line to bring home the first run before scoring himself on a Noah Fisher single to left.
Notable
- With a pair of hits Sunday afternoon, Noah Rabon extended his hitting streak to 15 games, racking up at least one hit in each game this season. His reached base streak extends to 16 consecutive games.
- Seeing multi-hit efforts from Noah Sullivan and Rabon, the pair picked up their team-leading ninth and eighth, respectively, multi-hit games this season. Rabon also collected his team-best seventh multi-RBI game while Cole Caruso picked up his third multi-RBI effort.
- Collecting 14 outs as a trio, Derek Sivec, Julian Parson, and Kevin Davis recorded nine of their 14 outs with a strikeout. Sivec tallied five punchouts for his second relief outing of the season with five or more strikeouts.
- During the series with Northern Kentucky, Upstate tallied 28 free bases on the weekend, being walked 14 times and hit by a pitch another 14 times.
UP Next for the Spartans
Following its three-game series with Northern Kentucky, USC Upstate wraps up its stretch of seven of eight games against teams from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, hosting Cincinnati Monday at Cleveland S. Harley Park. First pitch for the non-conference game is set for 5 p.m. ET.
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