THIS WEEKEND'S MATCH UP 

March 31 & April 1, 2023 

USC Upstate (26-7; 3-3 Big South) vs. Longwood (15-10; 2-0 Big South) 

Lancer Field | Farmville, Va.  

Live Stats: Upstate vs. Longwood 

Watch: ESPN+ | Game One | Game Two | Game Three 

Overview: 

The Spartans will go into their third Big South series of the year hoping to get back to winning ways. USC Upstate took a break from conference play as it split the mid-week double-header with the Furman Paladins. Upstate showcased stellar offense in game one of the midweek series as the Spartans tied their season high of 13 hits before falling by one run in game two. Longwood is riding a five-game winning streak, including a 2-0 series win against Presbyterian last weekend. The Spartans took the regular season series last year, but the 2022 season came to a close at the hands of the Lancers in a Big South Tournament elimination game, 5-0.Upstate trails the overall series 9-4 and trail the conference series 6-3.  

Players to Watch: 

USC Upstate: Casey Goguts was all about the three in game one against the Paladins in Greenville. The catcher from Florida had three hits, three RBIs and three runs herself in four at-bats in the 8-2 win. She followed up with another three hits, four at-bats performance in game two. Denver Lauer enjoyed success at the plate and on base, racking up three hits and three stolen bases between the two games. Alyssa Kelly saw action on the mound in both games, pitching 7.2 innings during the midweek series. Summer Johnson and Celeste Delorenzo both had admirable performances as well, collecting two hits apiece in game one and one hit each in game two.  

The Spartans still lead the Big South in several statistics. Upstate is the only team in the conference to have a batting average above .300 (.316) and leads the conference in stolen bases by a healthy margin. The Spartans have attempted to steal a base 110 times over the course of the season and have been successful 93 times. No other team in the conference has attempted to steal more than 75 times. They also lead in ERA (1.40), shutouts (11), and have the second fewest errors in the conference (27, Longwood has the fewest at 20).  

Nationally, Upstate holds a top-ten ranking in stolen bases per game (fifth with 2.82 per game) and earned run average (sixth with 1.40) while being tied at 19th in win/loss percentage (.788). They also hold top-fifty rankings in batting average (25th at .316), triples per game (34th at .30), slugging percentage (37th at .494), strikeout to walk ratio (44th at 2.78), and fielding percentage (49th at .971) 

Longwood: The Lancers are coming off a 2-0 midweek series against George Mason. Game one of that series was a tightly contested, 7-5 win in favor of the home team while game two was a 6-0 shutout thanks to the complete game performance of redshirt senior Reggie Kanagawa. Lauren Taylor and Lauren Fox caused the most damage at bat for the Lancers. Taylor had six RBIs and three hits on five at-bats in the two games and her performance was highlighted by a three-run home run in the fifth inning of game two against George Mason. Fox went four of six at the plate and brought in a run in both games of the midweek series.  

Big South Standings 

Longwood (2-0, 15-10) 

Campbell (5-1, 23-9) 

Winthrop (4-2, 22-12) 

USC Upstate (3-3, 26-7) 

Gardner-Webb (1-1, 12-22) 

Charleston Southern (1-4, 11-17) 

Presbyterian (0-2, 19-10) 

Radford (0-3, 9-18) 

UP NEXT FOR THE SPARTANS 

Upstate will be back in Spartanburg for a midweek slate against NC A&T starting next Tuesday, April 4 and will conclude the week hosting the Eagles of Winthrop Friday and Saturday.  

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YouTube.com/UpstateSpartans  

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