David Pereira Fourth AB vs. Kentucky Game One 2024
Ellie Arnold
11
Winner Kentucky UK 1-0
7
USC Upstate UPST 0-1
Winner
Kentucky UK
1-0
11
Final
7
USC Upstate UPST
0-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kentucky UK 0 4 0 0 4 0 1 2 0 11 13 0
USC Upstate UPST 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 7 11 1

W: Travis Smith (1-0) L: Sullivan, Noah (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Offers Late-Inning Rally That Falls Short Friday Against Kentucky; David Pereira and Vance Sheahan Post Career Days in the 11-7 Setback

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Opening a new season—doing so at home for the 22nd straight season—USC Upstate baseball showed its resilience as it battled back from a pair of big innings from a team in Kentucky receiving votes in the national polls, battling back with a late rally attempt in an 11-7 setback Friday at Cleveland S. Harley Park.
 
Carrying the weight offensively for the Spartans, the bottom of the order combined to finish 7-of-11 with four RBI and three runs scored as the group collected seven of the team's 11 hits Friday. Redshirt senior catcher David Pereira finished the night going 3-for-4, driving home a career-high-tying three runs to pace Upstate in run production. Equaling Pereira with a 3-for-4 night, freshman third baseman Vance Sheahan collected a hit in his first three collegiate plate appearances, becoming the first true freshman since 2018 with a multi-hit game on opening day.
 
Upstate's season opener saw it continue to use its strengths from the 2023 season, combining for five extra-base hits, including the first home runs of the season from redshirt senior shortstop Troy Hamilton and redshirt junior rightfielder Koby Kropf. The Spartans also succeeded on the base paths, stealing three total bags, two coming from senior second baseman Easton Cullison, his seventh career multi-steal game.
 
Game Information
Score: (RV) Kentucky 11; USC Upstate 7
Records: USC Upstate (0-1; 0-0 Big South); Kentucky (1-0; 0-0 SEC)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
  • T2: After seeing both sides go in order in the first, Kentucky opened the game's scoring as it took advantage of three doubles to rightfield to break open the game's scoring. The doubles coupled with a walk and single resulted in four runs for the Wildcats.
  • B2: Providing an answer to the four-spot put up in the prior half inning, Upstate pounced on a pair of two-out walks by the Wildcats as David Pereira sent a ball bounding up the middle to plate two runs. The single came after a masterful double steal from Easton Cullison and Daniel Gernon to put two men in scoring position.
  • T5: Doubling its run output in the fifth, Kentucky plated four runs as it worked the bases loaded in the frame. The Wildcats knocked in three runs with a pair of singles and pushed across a fourth on a bases-loaded walk.
  • B6: Stringing back-to-back-to-back two-out hits, Periera and Vance Sheahan each picked up an RBI in the sixth, cutting into the Wildcat lead. Pereira followed a two-out double from Gernon with one of his own tucked down the leftfield line before Sheahan drove in Pereira with a single into left.
  • T7: Getting one of its surrendered runs back, Kentucky tacked on to its lead as a run came in on a dropped fly ball.
  • B7: Slugging the season's first home run—the first of his Upstate career—Koby Kropf left the yard with a solo shot to right-center.
  • T8: Answering the Spartans' first long ball, the Wildcats collected one of their own as Devin Burkes homered to center.
  • B9: Continuing the streak of scoring created by the long ball, Troy Hamilton cracked his first homer of the year as he wrapped a two-run blast around the leftfield foul pole.
 
Notable
  • Slotting in at third base in the Spartans' opening day lineup, Vance Sheahan is the first true freshman to earn a start on opening day in two seasons when Cole Caruso and Noah Sullivan earned starts versus Ohio on Feb. 18, 2022.
  • Sheahan's three-hit night resulted in the first multi-hit game by a true freshman on opening day since Feb. 16, 2018, when Kyle Gensler and Austin Morgan each collected a pair of hits versus Dayton.
  • Getting homers from Troy Hamilton and Koby Kropf, the 2024 season's opening day marks the first since 2021 with an Upstate home run. The Spartans' lone opening day homer in 2021 belonged to Noah Rabon, the last Spartan to collect his first homer in an Upstate uniform on opening day until Koby Kropf did so Friday.
  • In Friday night's season opener, Vance Sheahan and Jagger Jefferis each made their USC Upstate debuts, the first Spartans to do so during the 2024 campaign.
 
Connect with the Spartans
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