Walk-Off Celebration vs. Campbell Gm 2 2023
Tashaun Wallace
5
Campbell CAM 40-13, 21-5 BSC
6
Winner USC Upstate UPST 36-19, 21-5 BSC
Campbell CAM
40-13, 21-5 BSC
5
Final
6
USC Upstate UPST
36-19, 21-5 BSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Campbell CAM 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 5 8 3
USC Upstate UPST 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 6 7 2

W: Cubbler, Jake (4-0) L: RUND, Aaron (3-2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

David Pereira's Walk-Off Hit Forces Winner-Take-All Game for the Big South Championship as Baseball Earns A Series Victory Over No. 9 Campbell

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Remaining in the hunt for a regular season Big South Championship after a comeback victory Thursday night, USC Upstate baseball continued to fight for its championship opportunity as it battled back for a second straight comeback win, walking things off in the 10th inning to capture the series over No. 9 Campbell Friday night at Cleveland S. Harley Park.
 
After trailing until the eighth inning in game one, Friday night's action favored the Spartans in the early going as Upstate scored two runs in the first as a wild pitch and a double to rightfield from junior second baseman Easton Cullison built the early lead. In the second, redshirt junior leftfielder Daniel Gernon turned on an 0-1 pitch, burning it out of the yard for his ninth long ball of the season and a 3-0 Upstate lead. Campbell scratched its way back in the fifth, plating three runs to tie the game before scoring two more in the seventh to build a 5-3 advantage into the stretch.
 
Seeing things play out in a similar fashion to erase a late-inning deficit, it was the same two Spartans, redshirt junior first baseman Grant Sherrod and redshirt junior catcher David Pereira, who drove home the runs to pull Upstate within one and tie the game. Sherrod pulled the Spartans within one in the seventh with a groundball to the right side before Pereira, in the exact same fashion as Thursday night, tied the game with a sac fly to leftfield. With the game reaching extras, it was Pereira who played the hero as against a drawn-in infield he scorched a 1-1 pitch up the middle with redshirt senior rightfielder Adam Grob racing down the line for the walk-off victory.
 
With its win Friday, Upstate forced a winner-take-all game for the 2023 Big South Regular Season Championship Saturday at 2 p.m. ET at Cleveland S. Harley Park. The victory also secured the Spartans a series victory over the Camels, handing Campbell their first series loss since Feb. 25-26, 2022 versus No. 22 Maryland and their first Big South series loss since April 23-25, 2021 versus Presbyterian.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 6; No. 9 Campbell 5 (10 inn.)
Records: USC Upstate (36-19; 21-5 Big South); Campbell (40-13; 21-5 Big South)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
Scoring Summary
  • B1: Getting on the board first Friday, the Spartans plated the first run as Cole Caruso raced home on a wild pitch. With the next batter to the plate, Easton Cullison laced a double into the rightfield corner, driving home Grant Sherrod to build a two-run lead.
  • B2: Leading off the second, Daniel Gernon launched a solo home run to left, pushing Upstate's lead to three.
  • T5: Scratching its way back into the game, Campbell plated three runs in the fifth inning to tie the game. The first run came in on an RBI single from Chandler Riley to right with a second run scoring as a result of an error on the same play. Later in the frame, a sac fly plated the final run of the inning.
  • T7: Putting the Camels ahead, Grant Knipp led off the seventh with a solo homer to left before Bryce Arnold added a run of insurance with an RBI single, building a 5-3 advantage.
  • B7: Following up a sac bunt from Kyle Henington to put two runners into scoring position, Grant Sherrod pulled Upstate within one as he drove home Jake Armsey with a groundout to the right side.
  • B8: Tying the game for the Spartans, David Pereira followed up a double from Gernon that put two runners in scoring position with a line drive to left, driving home Cullison from third, collecting a sac fly.
  • B10: Seeing a leadoff single from Adam Grob through the right side and a pair of wild pitches to get him to third, Pereira hit a ball up the middle to walk off Campbell as Grob raced home.
 
Notable
  • Launching a solo home run in the second, Daniel Gernon collected his ninth home run of the season, tying for the fourth-most home runs in a single season in the program's Division I era (2007-pres.). He becomes the sixth different Spartan to hit nine or more homers in a season in the D1 era, joining Grant Sherrod in doing so in 2023.
  • Racking up seven strikeouts Friday night, Upstate's pitching staff tied the program record for single-season strikeouts. Through 55 games in 2023, the Spartans have struck out 468 hitters, equaling the team's total from the 2021 season (468 over 53 games).
  • Lifting his seventh sacrifice fly of the year and his second in as many games, David Pereira set the program's D1 era record for sac flies. His sac fly Friday broke a tie with Dillon Way (2012) and Erik Samples (2015) as he sits two sac flies shy of the program single-season record of nine by Todd Ellison in 1988.
 
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