Grant Sherrod Walk-Off HR 5th AB vs. Tennessee Tech Gm 1 2024
Emily Rangel
5
Tennessee Tech TTU 10-6
7
Winner USC Upstate UPST 10-7
Tennessee Tech TTU
10-6
5
Final
7
USC Upstate UPST
10-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Tennessee Tech TTU 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 8 2
USC Upstate UPST 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 7 7 1

W: Cubbler, Jake (1-1) L: PEASE, Jaxson (1-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Grant Sherrod Clubs Walk-Off Homer, Earning Baseball its Second Walk-Off Win in Past Three Games with a 7-5 Midweek Victory Over Tennessee Tech

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Looking to build upon its weekend sweep to open its season-long eight-game homestand, USC Upstate baseball prevailed in a back-and-forth battle in the opener of a two-game midweek series, earning their second walk-off in its past three games to push its winning streak to a season-long-tying four with a 7-5 victory over Tennessee Tech Tuesday afternoon at Cleveland S. Harley Park.
 
In a game of ebbs and flows, Upstate jumped out first with a two-spot in the first inning—scoring in the opening frame for the fourth straight game—before the Golden Eagles responded with two runs of their own in the following half inning. Tennessee Tech tacked on another pair of runs in the third with the Spartans fighting back, scoring a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to stake a 5-4 lead.
 
With a tally in the eighth, the Golden Eagles knotted things up, however, the Spartans were not deterred as redshirt senior first baseman Grant Sherrod crushed a 1-1 pitch over the scoreboard in left-center to send Upstate home with the win. The walk-off homer gave Sherrod Upstate's lone multi-RBI game while redshirt senior centerfielder Daniel Gernon had the Spartans' lone multi-hit game.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 7; Tennessee Tech 5
Records: USC Upstate (10-7; 0-0 Big South); Tennessee Tech (10-6; 0-0 OVC)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
  • B1: Putting themselves on the board in the first inning for the fourth straight game, Upstate pushed across two in the opening frame. The Spartans took advantage of the first four batters of the game reaching base safely, stringing together a hit, fielding error, HBP, and walk to score the first tally with the second coming in as Tennessee Tech turned a double play with the bases loaded.
  • T2: The Golden Eagles tied the game in the second as Preston Steele clubbed a two-run homer to leftfield.
  • T3: Adding to its total and taking the lead for the first time on the afternoon behind another two-run home run, this time from Hayden Gilliland.
  • B5: Continuing a streak of runs scored via the long ball, the Spartans got a run back on a solo shot from Troy Hamilton to left-center.
  • B6: Taking advantage of a wild pitch with two men in scoring position, Upstate tied the game as Noah Sullivan came across to score on said wild pitch. The Spartans retook the lead later in the frame on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Easton Cullison.
  • T8: Clawing back to tie the ballgame, Tennessee Tech strung together a pair of two-out hits to knot the game at five.
  • B9: Following a two-out walk to Hamilton to prolong the inning, Grant Sherrod crushed a two-run homer to deep left-center, sailing the scoreboard, and giving the Spartans their second walk-off win in the past three games.
 
Notable
  • Grant Sherrod's walk-off home run Tuesday marked Upstate's first walk-off home run since April 29, 2023, when Daniel Gernon slugged a two-run homer in a 9-7 extra-inning win over Presbyterian. The team's latest walk-off homer is the second under head coach Mike McGuire (2020-pres.) while also featuring the same winning pitcher, Jake Cubbler.
  • In his longest career outing, tossing 4.2 innings, Darin Kuskie struck out a career-high eight hitters Tuesday afternoon as he recorded over half of his outs via strikeout. His total is tied for the second-highest single-game strikeout total by an Upstate pitcher this season as he becomes the third Spartan with eight-plus punchouts in a game this season, joining Jake Cubbler (five versus Kentucky on Feb. 17) and Henry Proger (10 versus Rider on March 10).
  • Picking up a hit in game one of the two-game midweek series, Koby Kropf upped his team-leading hitting and reached base streaks to 13 games. Noah Sullivan with an HBP joined Kropf with a double-digit reached base streak, growing his to 10 games.
 
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