April 8, 2008

Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2

Spartanburg, S.C. - Lauren Quevedo slammed a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Upstate to a 7-6 win in game two and completed the Spartans' sweep of Furman Tuesday evening at Cyrill Stadium. Upstate claimed a 2-0 victory in game one.

Upstate improved to 25-12 on the year, while Furman fell to 17-19. Upstate plays host to Stetson Friday night in an A-Sun battle. Furman plays host to Appalachian State this weekend in Greenville.

"I thought our team showed a lot of character in the second game," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "We were up, then fell behind, and battled back to win the game. We made the plays when we had to and Morgan again showed that she is a very tough, very good pitcher."

Quevedo's game-winning home run capped a late comeback for Upstate in game two. It also overshadowed a tremendous effort in the circle by Morgan Childers. Childers tossed the complete game shutout in game one and entered the second game in the fifth inning to pick up the win in game two.

In game two, Upstate jumped out on top, 3-0, after two innings. The Spartans got on the board with a run in the first inning when Kim Brasil scored on a wild pitch. Upstate made it 3-0 with two runs in the second on Ana Mitchell's squeeze bunt that scored pinch runner Courtney Tate from third and Amber Patterson's ground out that scored Tiffany Pitcher.

Furman, though, battled back to cut the lead to one with two runs in the third inning on an RBI single by Abby Robertson and an RBI ground out by Morgan Hughey. Upstate opened a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning on Mitchell's sacrifice fly.

Furman battled back to take a 6-4 lead with four runs in the fifth inning. Upstate starter Brittany Rice was lifted after giving up a single to start the inning. Kayla Short was inserted into the circle, but hit two batters and gave up a single to allow Furman to score a run and then load the bases. Childers came in to end the inning. However, before the inning ended, three more runs crossed the plate as the Paladins took a 6-4 lead. Brythe Blankenship, Bethany Ullrich and Meredith Mielke each had RBI hits in the inning, while Lana Mackey had a sacrifice fly.

Upstate drew even with two runs in the sixth inning on Brasil's two-run double. Childers got two strikeouts and a ground out in the top of the seventh. The inning was her third of the game. She gave up two hits and struck out five in three innings of relief. None of the runs scored by Furman in the fourth inning were charged to her.

Quevedo took the first pitch from Mackey, who had entered the game in the fifth in relief of Furman starter Ullrich, then smacked the second offering over the wall in right center for the game-winning homer.

Childers got the win, while Mackey took the loss. Quevedo, Pitcher and Vanesa Flores led Upstate at the plate, finishing with two hits apiece. Mielke and Stephanie Cushing had two hits to lead the Furman attack.

Childers was the show in game one. She tossed the complete game shutout, recording her ninth shutout of the season and surpassing the 200 strikeout mark for the season. The freshman struck out 14 batters and allowed just three hits in the dominant win. Coupled with the five strikeouts in game two, she struck out 19 batters on the day, giving her 211 on the season.

Upstate scored in the first inning when Quevedo grounded out to the shortstop and Shay Slater scored on the play. Upstate made it 2-0 with a run in the third on Courtney Feldon's RBI single. The two runs would be all that Childers would need. With the win in both games, she improved to 20-5 on the year, marking the first time since Kristy Middagh won 24 games in 2002 that an Upstate pitcher has recorded 20 wins. Mackey took the loss in game one despite scattering five hits and giving up just two runs. Paired with her loss in relief in game two, she fell to 12-15 on the year.