April 17, 2008

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SPARTANBURG, S.C. - With four Atlantic Sun Conference series left in the season and the USC Upstate baseball team in a three-way tie for fourth, the upstart Spartans, predicted to finish last in the preseason coaches' poll, will get a chance this weekend to slow down the hottest team in the conference in Lipscomb. In either case, the series will go a long way to determining both teams' final standing in the conference. First pitch on Friday is set at 6 p.m. and a doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday. All games will be available on ASun.TV for live video streaming and on Gametracker through www.upstatespartans.com.

Upstate, at 18-20 overall and 11-10 in the A-Sun, has lost three games in a row, but have a 12-6 record in the friendly confines of Harley Park this season. Lipscomb, at 20-16 overall and 14-7 in the A-Sun, has won every single conference series its played this year, thanks in large part due to its sterling starting pitching staff that includes Preseason Pitcher of the Year Rex Brothers and Brandon McClurg, who threw a no-hitter against Kennesaw State.

Quick Hits
• Upstate is 12-6 this season at Harley Park and sport a 6-3 mark in A-Sun games at the friendly confines.
• Freshman Blake Green is 6-for-13 (.462) with three runs and one RBI in the last four games to lead the Spartan offense. He has also walked twice and owns a four-game hitting streak.
• Sophomore Jimmy Tanner is hitting .368 (14-for-38) with seven runs and seven RBIs over the last 10 games.
• Junior Phillip Morgan will be available for an Atlantic Sun Conference series for the first time in two weeks after a hand injury. He has an eight-game hitting streak in conference games.
• Morgan and junior Kyle Simpson are each hitting .435 with runners on base to lead the Spartans. Morgan is a hefty 27-for-62 with runners on and he is hitting .500 with runners in scoring position.
• The Spartans have scored 55 of their 229 runs this season in the sixth inning. Their second favorite inning to score in is the fifth, posting 39.
• Junior Eric Guillen is the only Spartan to start all 38 games this year, playing shortstop in every game for Upstate.
• Head coach Matt Fincher won his 250th career game on Friday, 14-5, against Kennesaw State.

Projecting A Tough Road Ahead
In Baseball America's projected NCAA Field of 64, the USC Upstate baseball team has two opponents and four games scheduled this week, not including Tuesday's game with No. 10 South Carolina, a projected No. 1 seed, a 14-4 loss for Upstate. Lipscomb, who comes to Harley Park next weekend, is the projected A-Sun Conference champion and a No. 4 seed in the bracket and Charlotte, who Upstate travels to on April 23, is the projected Atlantic 10 Conference champion and a No. 3 seed. Upstate fell, 9-4, to Charlotte on Feb. 27 at Harley Park.

Keeping Thieves In Line
The Upstate catching duo of sophomore Jimmy Tanner and Phillip Morgan have caught an impressive 21 attempted stolen bases this season, cutting down 42 percent (21-for-50) of would-be base stealers. They are tied for the conference lead in the department with Campbell. In 23 starts, Tanner has cut down nine thieves and Morgan has tossed out seven. The Spartan pitching staff has also picked off five runners in stolen base situations.

Where No Spartan Has Gone Before
Senior Andrew Runion entered some unchartered land for Upstate on April 11, as he went 5-for-6 in a 14-5 against Kennesaw State. He surpassed his previous career-best of four hits, which he did three times. He also became the first Upstate player to get five hits in a DI game and became the first Upstate player to reach 50 hits in the DI era during the game as well. He also moved into 10th in school history, surpassing Chris Sturgill (1986-88), who compiled 171 hits in his career. Thanks to three more hits on April 12, Runion became the ninth player in school history to reach 175 career hits and with 176 career safeties, he is just three shy of Jason Westbrook's mark of 179 hits, which is ninth in school history.

Andrew's Artillery
Senior Andrew Runion has been at the heart of the Upstate lineup for three years and now, as a senior, he is enjoying some of the finest power numbers of his career. Ironically, the competition has stepped up on the 5-11 Simpsonville, S.C., native as Upstate has moved to Division I from Division II. Still, he is slugging a career-high .579 and his seven homers are already a career-high, surpassing his previous best of four. He has made an impact among the best in the Atlantic Sun Conference, entering the weekend tied for seventh in homers, seventh in total bases (88) and 10th in batting average (.368).

Bowley's Bat
Senior Kyle Bowley struggled mightily at the plate through the first month of the season, hitting .189 through his first 37 at bats. Since then, though, the corner infielder has been on fire, going 16-for-30 (.533) in his last nine games with six runs and eight RBIs. He has entered the school's top 10 in career runs and home runs and moved up to third in career RBIs in that stretch. The Co-Peach Belt Freshman of the Year in 2004, Bowley is currently hitting .343 (23-for-67) with 11 runs and 11 RBIs in 20 games.

A Real Record-Setter
Already the school's all-time leader in complete games (12), shutouts (4) and strikeouts (228), senior Scott Eckard added one more notch to his belt on March 17 when he picked up his first career win in relief against Campbell for his 20th career win. The hard-throwing lefty passed Eric Hunter (1986-89) for the most wins in school history with 19 wins when he got out of a one-out, runner on second jam in the ninth inning of a suspended game by getting a fly out and a strikeout. The Spartans quickly scored the winning run for Eckard in the bottom of the ninth, giving him another school record.

On March 29, he etched his name at the top of another category, as he threw seven innings, allowing two earned runs against Jacksonville to become the school's all-time leader in innings pitched, passing Trevor Berryhill (2002-05) for the top slot in career innings pitched with 279.0. Berryhill threw 278.1 innings in his four years. He also passed Berryhill in career starts for the top slot in Upstate's record book when he took the hill for the 46th time on April 17 against South Carolina.