Johnny Sweeney's D1 Era Career Record 31st Home Run Powers Baseball to Series-Clinching Victory Saturday Against Gardner-Webb

Saturday, May 2

Spartanburg, S.C.

4:00 p.m.

University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics

21-26, 10-10

Gardner-Webb

21-26, 8-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Gardner-Webb	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	4	11	1
USC Upstate	4	4	0	0	0	1	0	3	X	12	10	1

Johnny Sweeney Pre-3rd AB vs. Gardner-Webb Gm 2 2026 - NM

Photo by: Natalia Moll

5/2/2026 10:10:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Despite seeing Mother Nature push the game's start time following overnight rain, USC Upstate baseball didn't let the precipitation dampen its momentum, extending its winning streak over Gardner-Webb to 14 games behind a 12-4 victory Saturday at Cleveland S. Harley Park. The win improved the Spartans' stretch of weekend series won on their home field to nine, including all five weekend series played at Harley Park this season.

Although the Runnin' Bulldogs scored first with a single run in the opening frame, Upstate answered immediately with four runs of its own in the stanza, then tacked on four additional tallies in the second inning. The Spartans notched a run in the sixth and three final runs in the eighth, helping Upstate to successive games scoring 10 or more runs since March 27-28 against UNC Asheville.

Homering thrice Friday evening, Upstate homered twice more Saturday. The lone Spartan to homer in consecutive games this weekend, fifth-year senior designated hitter Johnny Sweeney swatted a grand slam in the second inning, his ninth long ball of the year and the 31^st of his career—a new Division I era (2007-pres.) career record. He finished the afternoon a triple shy of the cycle while driving home a season-high six RBI.

Redshirt freshman centerfielder Trey Bentley hit his sixth home run of the year, a three-run shot in the first, as he joined Sweeney with a multi-hit and multi-RBI effort. Driving home three runs with a bases-clearing triple in the eighth inning, redshirt senior third baseman Jake Armsey notched the Spartans' other multi-RBI game.

Keeping the Runnin' Bulldogs off balance all afternoon, sophomore left-handed pitcher Max Kaplan turned in his fourth quality start of the campaign, surrendering two earned runs over 7.0 innings of work. He struck out a season-high-tying seven hitters, his fourth start this year with six-plus punchouts.

Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 12; Gardner-Webb 4
Records: USC Upstate (21-26; 10-10 Big South); Gardner-Webb (21-26; 8-12 Big South)
Location: Cleveland S. Harley Park | Spartanburg, S.C.

How It Happened

T1: Collecting three hits among the first four batters of the game, Gardner-Webb scratched the first run of the game behind an RBI single from Matt Ilgenfritz.
B1: Answering the Runnin' Bulldogs' tally in the first, Johnny Sweeney drove home the first of his six runs with a single ripped through the right side. Trey Bentley followed Sweeney, breaking the deadlock with a three-run homer to right-center.
B2: Adding four additional RBI to his cache, Sweeney belted a grand slam to right-center, doubling the Spartans' run total.
T4: Getting a run back, Gardner-Webb's Alejandro Sanchez drove in a run with a groundout to first.
B6: Doubling into the right-center gap, Sweeney produced another run in the sixth, scoring Maloy Heaghney from second.
T8: Stringing together three straight hits, the Runnin' Bulldogs notched a third run behind a Kelvin Agosto RBI single into left-center.
B8: Clearing the bases, Jake Armsey collected his three RBI as he split the left-center gap with a double.
T9: Pushing across the day's final run, Merik Carter picked up an RBI on a sac fly down the leftfield line.

Notable

Johnny Sweeney's second-inning grand slam marked the 31^st of his Upstate career, breaking his tie with Grant Sherrod (30 from 2022-24) for the program's Division I era (2007-pres) career home run record. His total ranks second in program history, trailing Todd Ellison's (1987-90) 45 career home runs.
Tying Wylie Waters for the team's home run lead with his ninth long ball of the season, Sweeney joins Waters in seeking a second straight double-digit home run season. The duo is seeking to become the first Spartans since Sherrod in 2023 and 2024 with consecutive double-digit home run seasons.

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TICKETS ON-SALE FOR SPARTY'S BALL – MAY 15^th
Support USC Upstate student-athletes at Sparty's Ball, the largest fundraising event of the year for the Upstate Athletic Fund (UAF), to be held Friday, May 15, 2025, at The Piedmont Club. For tickets, sponsorship, and auction information, click here!