Baseball Evens Series, Downing South Alabama 10-7 Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, February 14

Mobile, Ala.

3:00 p.m.

University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics

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South Alabama

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USC Upstate

South Alabama

Photo by: South Alabama Athletics

2/14/2026 10:42:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MOBILE, Ala. – Building upon its five runs scored from the seventh inning onward on Opening Day, USC Upstate baseball rode its momentum into game two of the 2026 campaign, evening its series with South Alabama behind a 10-7 victory Saturday afternoon. After not scoring until the fifth inning in game one, the Spartans wasted little time in game two, scoring in each of the first three frames.

Seven of the Spartans' nine starters and nine players overall picked up at least one hit, leading Upstate to 16 hits off Jaguars' pitching Saturday. Following up on their strong days at the plate in the season opener, redshirt sophomore shortstop Maloy Heaghney and redshirt sophomore catcher Tyler Lang each collected a second multi-hit game with three hits apiece, but redshirt sophomore leftfielder Kenan Bowman paced the lineup with a game-high four hits, finishing 4-of-6 at the dish with two RBI.

Junior rightfielder Micah Coleman and redshirt sophomore centerfielder Henry Zenor joined Bowman with a multi-RBI day, tallying two RBI apiece.

On the mound, junior right-handed pitcher Brent Stukes struck out six over 5.0 innings in his USC Upstate debut, earning the victory. Adding to Stukes' total, redshirt junior righty Max Eichenberger and sophomore right-hander Brad Benton—both in their Upstate debuts—punched out four and one batter, respectively, giving Upstate 11 strikeouts on the day.

Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 10; South Alabama 7
Records: USC Upstate (1-1; 0-0 Big South); South Alabama (1-1; 0-0 Sun Belt)
Location: Stanky Field | Mobile, Ala.

How It Happened

T1: Stepping to the plate with a pair of runners aboard, both reaching via free passes, and two outs, Tyler Lang began the days scoring, driving home Henry Zenor with a single to right.
B1: Getting the Jaguars' run back, Duncan Mathews slugged his second first-inning home run of the series, a solo shot to left.
T2: Retaking the lead, the Spartans strung together a pair of hits to open the new frame, as a Kenan Bowman single down the rightfield line chased home Maloy Heaghney, who led off the inning with a double. After a sac bunt from Gage Griggs moved a pair of runners further into scoring position, Henry Zenor plated another tally with a single to center. Upstate tacked on a third run behind a groundout to short from Micah Coleman.
B2: Reclaiming one of its surrendered runs, South Alabama notched one in the second behind a Paxton Bigby solo homer.
T3: Seeing the first two batters of the inning reach, Bowman picked up another RBI, driving home Heaghney with a double to right-center.
B4: Answering the Spartan tally, the Jaguars Blake Guerin drove home a run with a single through the left side.
T5: Getting its run back and then some, Upstate hung two on the scoreboard in the fifth, the first driven home via a sac fly from Zenor and the second an RBI single from Coleman.
T7: Adding some insurance, the Spartans took advantage of a pair of South Alabama errors to hang two more runs on the board.
T8: Driving home Upstate's final run of the day, Alex Ritzer pushed across Jake Armsey with a single to second base.
B9: Loading the bases in the ninth, the Jaguars scratched four runs in the final frame. The first scored on an HBP before Stewart Puckett triple cleared the bases, driving home the final three runs of the day.

Notable

Following up on their multi-hit and multi-RBI games in the season opener, Maloy Heaghney and Tyler Lang each notched multi-hit efforts Saturday, the lone Spartans with multiple multi-hit games this season.
Saturday, three more Spartans made their USC Upstate debuts with Brad Benton, Max Eichenberger, and Brad Benton debuting. Through two games, 13 Spartans have made their Upstate debuts.

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