SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After months of anticipation, USC Upstate baseball took the field Friday afternoon as the 2023 season opened at Cleveland S. Harley Park with the Spartans picking up a 7-1 victory in the first game of a three-game set with Towson.
 
Setting the tone for the Spartans, redshirt junior right-hander Reese Dutton turned in a solid first outing in an Upstate uniform, surrendering four hits and no runs over six innings of work. Helping set the tone, he racked up six strikeouts on the afternoon, striking out a hitter in five of six innings—including two in the first inning—with four of his punchouts ending innings.
 
Despite starting slow at the plate and not securing their first hit until the third inning, Upstate recorded seven hits on the night, leading to seven runs to back Dutton. Another debuting Spartan, redshirt junior outfielder Daniel Gernon picked up the Spartans' first hit of the year, part of a two-hit, two-RBI night with senior centerfielder Adam Grob and sophomore third baseman Cole Caruso also driving home two runs.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 7; Towson 1
Records: USC Upstate (1-0; 0-0 Big South); Towson (0-1; 0-0 Colonial)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.
   
Scoring Summary

• B3: Seeing Daniel Gernon—who picked up the Spartans' first hit of the game—advance into scoring position, Cole Caruso used a good piece of situational hitting to produce the game's first run. With Gernon standing 90 feet from scoring, he hit a bouncing ball back over the pitcher's mound to plate the run.
• B5: Piecing together back-to-back hits to open the frame, Gernon drove home Noah Sullivan with a double to the rightfield corner to push the lead to 2-0 with Gernon advancing to third on a misplay by the Tiger rightfielder. Plating the inning's second run, Caruso stepped to the plate with Gernon at third for the second straight plate appearance and again proved a selfless teammate, producing the run with a groundball to the right side.
• B6: Stepping to the plate with runners on the corners, J.D. Brock drove in the Spartans' first run of the inning with a double to rightfield before Upstate's second run came home via a walk with the bases loaded. A single up the middle from Adam Grob with the bases loaded scored the final two runs of the inning and pushed the lead to 7-0.
• T7: Using a pair of singles and a balk to open the seventh inning, Towson got itself on the board as Brian Heckelman's single scored Jordan Peyton.

 
Notable

• With its 7-1 win Friday night, Upstate claimed its third victory in a season-opener under head coach Mike McGuire.
• Earning the start in the Spartans' season opener, Reese Dutton becomes the second Upstate starting pitcher to make his Spartan debut in the team's season opener under McGuire. He joins former Spartan Jacob Curry (2022) as the lone Spartan starting pitchers to make their Upstate debut in the season opener.
• Speaking of debuts, seven Spartans made their Upstate debut Friday as sophomore first baseman Johnny Sweeney, sophomore centerfielder Kyle Henington, junior catcher Koby Kropf, junior rightfielder J.D. Brock, redshirt junior leftfielder Daniel Gernon, and sophomore righty Trent Hodgdon all joined Dutton in making their debut.
• With two hits and two RBI, Gernon is the lone Spartan to collect both a multi-hit and multi-RBI game in the season opener. Cole Caruso and Adam Grob each recorded a multi-RBI game, their fourth and seventh, respectively, of their careers.

 
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