Easton Cullison 2nd AB vs. Penn Gm 1 2024
Emma Hudson
8
Rider RIDER 1-8
9
Winner USC Upstate UPST 8-7
Rider RIDER
1-8
8
Final
9
USC Upstate UPST
8-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Rider RIDER 1 0 0 5 2 0 0 0 0 8 9 2
USC Upstate UPST 1 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 1 9 12 0

W: Ellingworth, Cooper (2-1) L: Poliey, C. (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Easton Cullison Walks-Off Rider as Baseball Fights Back from a Five-Run Deficit to Earn Saturday and Series Victory

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Despite seeing Mother Nature alter the game's start time, an opportunity to capture another weekend series victory presented itself to USC Upstate baseball who fought back from a five-run deficit to capture the team's first victory when trailing after six innings during the 2024 season as Upstate walked off Rider Saturday at Cleveland S. Harley Park for a 9-8 victory.
 
Trailing 8-3 heading into the home half of the sixth inning, the Spartans began the comeback trail by getting two runs back as redshirt sophomore designated hitter continued his strong weekend, stepping to the plate as a pinch hitter and delivering a two-run blast to straightaway center. Upstate continued its rally in the seventh as three straight hitters reached with two outs in the frame with redshirt senior catcher David Pereira crushing the first pitch of his at-bat to deep left-center, tying the game.
 
Finishing his career-long outing, freshman right-hander Cooper Ellingworth complemented the Spartans' comeback as he retired the final 10 hitters he faced, including recording two of his three strikeouts in the top of the ninth to bring the Spartans to the plate with a chance for the win. Following Pereira and Sullivan who brought Upstate back from the five-run disadvantage, senior second baseman Easton Cullison ripped the first pitch he saw through the right side to send Upstate home with the walk-off win.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 9; Rider 8
Records: USC Upstate (8-7; 0-0 Big South); Rider (1-8; 0-0 MAAC)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
  • T1: Opening the day's scoring and putting Rider on the board first in the opening inning for the second straight day, Brian Skettini hit a solo homer to left.
  • B1: Following a similar blueprint to Friday's game, Upstate answered a Broncs' run in the next half inning as a single into left-center pushed across the Spartans' first run.
  • B3: Adding to his multi-RBI effort, Rinehart put the Spartans ahead for the first time in the game as he drove in another with a triple into right-center. He'd later come into score as Koby Kropf drove him home with a single into left-center.
  • T4: Answering Upstate's first lead, Rider plated five tallies in the fourth inning. The Broncs followed a sac fly and wild pitch with a three-run homer from Anthony Paskell.
  • T5: Extending their advantage, the Broncs added two more runs in the fifth, taking advantage of a passed ball and adding a bunt single to push across the runs.
  • B6: Stepping to the plate as a pinch-hitter, Noah Sullivan followed a lead-off walk to David Pereira with a two-run blast to dead center, pulling Upstate within three.
  • B7: Coming after a two-out walk and single to Jace Rinehart and from Koby Kropf, respectively, Pereira tied the game with a three-run homer to left-center as he crushed the first pitch he saw.
  • B9: Reaching base with a one-out single to third, Pereira stole himself into scoring position before advancing to third as the attempt to nab him at second ricocheted of him and into leftfield. With Pereira in scoring position, the Broncs issued an intentional walk to Sullivan, putting runners on the corner for Easton Cullison who ripped the first pitch he saw through the four-hole to drive home the winning run.
 
Notable
  • With its latest walk-off victory and the first of the season, Upstate picked up its first walk-off win since May 19, 2023, when the Spartans walked off Campbell in the 10th inning of a 6-5 victory. Saturday's victory gives Upstate at least one walk-off win in the past three seasons.
  • Hitting his fifth home run of the season, Noah Sullivan became the fifth Spartan to reach five home runs on the season, joining Troy Hamilton (six), Koby Kropf (five), Jace Rinehart (five), and Grant Sherrod (five). Entering the week, Upstate was the lone team in the country to have three or more players with five or more homers on the year.
  • Collecting two doubles, a triple, and two home runs, the Spartans extended their streak of home games with five or more extra-base hits to seven games. Hitting multiple homers, Upstate secured its 11th game of the 2024 season with multiple home runs in a game.
  • Recording a pair of hits, Koby Kropf extended his team-best hitting and reached base streaks to 11 games. The streaks are the longest streaks by a Spartan wholly contained during the 2024 season.
 
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