SPARTANBURG, S.C. – While mother nature may have caused some shuffling of the Spartans' three-game weekend, the pushing up of USC Upstate baseball's game with Cincinnati couldn't deter the team's pitching staff as three Upstate pitchers combined to strike out 17 Bearcat hitters in a 6-1 victory Thursday evening at Cleveland S. Harley Park.
Redshirt junior right-hander
Reese Dutton, redshirt senior left-hander
Derek Sivec, and freshman right-hander
Braden Consaul combined to strikeout 17—the most strikeouts by Spartan pitching since May 7, 2022, versus Longwood—as the trio allowed just five hits and one run. Dutton set the tone with 11 punchouts over 5.0 scoreless innings as his strikeout total was the highest for a Spartan pitcher since Feb. 15, 2020.
Not to be overshadowed, the Upstate offense continued its torrid stretch at the plate, pushing its streak of consecutive innings with a run to 11 with a three-spot in the first and another run in the second. The offense didn't prove one-dimensional either, scoring runs with extra-base hits, situational hitting, and sacrifices throughout the night, coming away with 11 hits, including multi-hit efforts from redshirt junior shortstop
Troy Hamilton, redshirt junior rightfielder
Grant Sherrod, redshirt junior leftfielder
Noah Rabon, and sophomore first baseman
Al Holguin.
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 6; Cincinnati 1
Records: USC Upstate (11-8; 0-0 Big South); Cincinnati (8-10; 0-0 AAC)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.
Scoring Summary
- B1: Seeing the first two batters in the Spartan order reach base with a walk and single, respectively, Grant Sherrod delivered the first run for Upstate with a single back through the box. A throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt of Sherrod allowed Troy Hamilton to race home and score before a triple from Daniel Gernon brought home Sherrod to stake a 3-0 lead.
- B2: Ripping the first pitch of his second at-bat into the leftfield corner, Hamilton drove home Al Holguin from first to extend the Upstate lead to four runs.
- B4: After getting into scoring position with a double down the leftfield line and advancing 90 feet from scoring after a throwing error by the Cincinnati catcher on a back pick attempt, David Pereira scored as Cole Caruso ground out to the right side.
- B6: The final Spartan run came via a sac fly as Holguin lifted a ball the other way down the leftfield line as the Bearcat leftfielder ranged into foul ground to snare the fly ball with Noah Rabon tagging and scoring.
- T8: Cincinnati plated its lone run on a double down the rightfield line from Kory Klingenbeck, moving the score to 6-1 in favor of Upstate.
Notable
- With its 17 strikeouts Thursday night, Upstate's pitching staff collected its most strikeouts since punching out 16 batters versus Longwood on May 7, 2022. The 17 punchouts are the second-most strikeouts recorded in a game by an Upstate pitching staff, the seventh game with 17 or more strikeouts by Upstate pitching and the fifth such game (all 17 strikeouts) under head coach Mike McGuire (2020-pres.).
- Leading Upstate with 11 strikeouts over five innings, Reese Dutton recorded the most strikeouts by a Spartan pitcher since Ben Ferrer struck out 13 Long Island batters on Feb. 15, 2020. Dutton's outing also marks the first double-digit strikeout game by a Spartan pitcher since Jordan Marks struck out 10 versus Longwood on April 23, 2021.
- Scoring in both the first and second innings, Upstate fashioned a streak of 11 straight innings scoring at least one run, a streak that dated to the eighth inning of game three versus James Madison on March 11.
Youth Baseball Field of Dreams Program
Bring your youth baseball team to meet the Spartans and take the field for the National Anthem at select games at Harley Park this season! The program is free and so is admission thanks to Ingles! For details and to sign up, go to
www.upstatespartans.com/fieldofdreams
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