Relief Pitching and Timely Hitting Lead Baseball to a Series Sweep of North Carolina A&T with a 6-3 Sunday Victory

Sunday, April 24

Spartanburg, S.C.

1:00 p.m.

University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics

25-16, 0

North Carolina A&T

12-26, 0

North Carolina A&T

USC Upstate

Photo by: Xavi Wences

4/24/2022 6:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Going for its second straight Big South Conference sweep, USC Upstate did just that and collected its third conference sweep of the season, defeating North Carolina A&T 6-3 Sunday afternoon at Cleveland S. Harley Park.

For the second consecutive game, North Carolina A&T jumped out to an early lead with a run in the fourth, but Upstate was not deterred, tying the game in the fifth before building a lead with a three-run sixth. The Spartans added a run in the seventh while the Aggies pulled closer with two runs in the eighth before Upstate added an insurance run in the home half of the eighth.

Pitching pushed Upstate to the victory in the series finale as three Spartan pitchers, sophomore right-hander Trey Miller, senior righty Kevin Davis, and redshirt sophomore left-hander Sawyer Worrell, combined to scatter six hits and three runs on the afternoon. Earning the win, Davis struck out a season-best seven over 3.1 innings of work before turning it over to Worrell who allowed just a hit over the final two innings for his first save of the year.

Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 6; North Carolina A&T 3
Records: USC Upstate (25-16; 13-5 Big South); North Carolina A&T (12-26; 1-14 Big South)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.

Scoring Summary

T4: Following a one-out walk and a single, North Carolina A&T's Alec Seaton opened the game's scoring for the second straight game as he delivered a single back through the box to bring home Bret Mersman from second.
B5: Leading off the home half of the fifth, Adam Grob worked a walk before being sacrificed into scoring position and advancing to third on a passed ball with just one out. Devin Buckner drove in Grob from third on a groundout to the shortstop to tie the game.
B6: Greeting a new Aggie pitcher, Grob ambushed the first pitch and drove it back up the middle to break the 1-1 tie as Noah Rabon and Easton Cullison raced in to score. The Spartans tacked on another insurance run as Buckner tallied his second RBI with a single through the left side.
B7: Hanging another run of insurance on the scoreboard, Noah Rabon hit his fifth homer of the year with a deep drive over the leftfield foul pole.
T8: Seeing the first three batters of the inning reach base, North Carolina A&T took advantage of a pair of RBI singles, one from T.J. Ash and one from Sabin Roane to plate two runs and pull with two at 5-3.
B8: Extending its lead to three runs, Upstate added its sixth run with an RBI bunt single from Noah Myers, scoring Adam Grob.

Notable

Adding a homer from Noah Rabon—his fifth of the year—in game three against North Carolina A&T Sunday, Upstate clubbed five home runs in its series with North Carolina A&T. The total marks the most in a series this season for the Spartans.
Concluding the North Carolina A&T series with a long ball in each game, Upstate has homered in four consecutive games. The streak is the longest for the Spartans since homering in four straight games from April 6 to April 11, 2021.
Reaching base with a third-inning walk Sunday, Noah Sullivan improved his team-long reached base streak to 25 games. He is joined by Devin Buckner in carrying a double-digit reached base streak with Buckner holding a 12-game streak, including reaching in each of the last six games with a hit.
Recording 10 outs over 3.1 innings of work, Kevin Davis tallied a season-high with seven strikeouts. The total falls just short of his career-high of eight punchouts recorded against Toledo on Feb. 21, 2021.

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