Wylie Waters Homers For Third Straight Big South Contest as Baseball Falls in Series Opener at Winthrop

Friday, April 17

Rock Hill, S.C.

6:00 p.m.

University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics

19-20, 8-8

Winthrop

25-13, 8-2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
USC Upstate	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	7	0
Winthrop	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	X	3	7	0

Home Run Celebration Post-Wylie HR vs. Winthrop Gm 1 2026 - CH

Photo by: Emma Hudson

4/17/2026 9:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Remaining in the Palmetto State as its eight-game road swing continues, USC Upstate baseball dropped its series opener Friday night at Winthrop, falling 3-1 at Founders Field.

Setting the tone for the Spartans, junior left-handed pitcher Chris Torres fashioned his second quality start of the season, turning in 6.0 innings of four-hit, one-run ball. He struck out four over his six innings, posting his highest single-game strikeout total since March 20 at Longwood—his last quality start of the campaign.

Driving home the Spartans' lone run, senior first baseman Wylie Waters slugged his team-leading seventh homer of the year, his third straight Big South contest with a long ball. Notching the lone multi-hit effort of the night for the Spartans, redshirt senior second baseman Alex Ritzer collected two hits.

Game Information
Score: Winthrop 3; USC Upstate 1
Records: USC Upstate (19-20; 8-8 Big South); Winthrop (25-13; 8-2 Big South)
Location: Founders Field | Rock Hill

How It Happened

B6: Busting the deadlock, Winthrop's Jaylen Hernandez snuck a solo homer inside the rightfield foul pole.
B8: Adding some insurance, the Eagles scored twice in the eighth. A Corey Wouters double inside the third base bag plated the first before a sac fly from Alan Benhardt pushed across the final tally.
T9: Breaking the shutout attempt from Winthrop, Wylie Waters slugged a solo shot down the leftfield line.

Notable

Beating the shift in the third, Trey Bentley extended his team-best reached base streak to 19 games. The streak is the longest since Preston Lucas' 29-game reached base streak snapped on Feb. 15 against South Alabama.
Surrendering one run over 6.0 complete innings, Chris Torres turned in his second quality start of the season. The outing marked his first quality start since March 20 (6.0 IP; 1 ER) against Longwood.

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