CHARLESTON, S.C. – After scoring the final 13 runs in a 22-run explosion for the team's offense to open its second Big South series of the year, USC Upstate baseball scored 13 additional runs Saturday, securing a series victory behind a 13-0 shutout win Saturday over Charleston Southern at Nielsen Field at CSU Ballpark. The Spartans enter Sunday's series finale having scored 26 unanswered runs.
 
Pitching Upstate's first shutout since May 18, 2024, four Spartan pitchers combined to limit the Buccaneers to five hits. Redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Amp Phillips—making his first weekend start as a Spartan—held Charleston Southern to one hit over a career-long-tying 5.0 innings of work, striking out five. Working out of the bullpen, freshman left-handed pitcher Max Kaplan, senior right-hander Kyle Beaty, and freshman righty Cayden Mackey combined for 4.0 innings of scoreless relief and three strikeouts.
 
The long ball jumpstarted Upstate at the plate as home runs accounted for eight of Upstate's 13 runs. Senior designated hitter Johnny Sweeney launched a two-run homer in the first inning, part of a 3-for-4 afternoon that saw him finish a triple shy of the cycle, to begin the Spartan scoring. Breaking the game open in another five-run frame, redshirt sophomore centerfielder Scott Newman hit Upstate's third grand slam of the year before sophomore shortstop Vance Sheahan added a two-run homer in the seventh.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 13; Charleston Southern 0
Records: USC Upstate (11-11; 2-3 Big South); Charleston Southern (12-8; 0-5 Big South)
Location: Nielsen Field at CSU Ballpark | Charleston, S.C.
 
How It Happened

• T1: Carrying the momentum from last night's game into the opening frame, Upstate scored twice in the first as Johnny Sweeney laced a two-run homer to right.
• T2: The Spartans tacked on two more in the second behind RBI singles from Jake Armsey and Henry Zenor.
• T5: Two additional tallies came for Upstate in the fifth with Sweeney picking up another RBI with a single through the middle. He'd later score on a wild pitch.
• T6: Exploding for a five-run inning, Scott Newman knocked in four of the team's five runs in the inning with a grand slam to right.
• T7: The final two runs of the afternoon came as Vance Sheahan launched a two-run long ball to left.

 
Notable

• Limiting the Buccaneers to four hits and no runs, Upstate's pitching staff recorded the team's first shutout victory of the 2025 season, the team's first shutout since last season's regular season finale at UNCG.
• The shutout marks the first for the Spartans during Big South play since blanking the same Charleston Southern team by the same margin (13-0) in the second game of last season's series between the clubs.

 
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