SPARTANBURG, SC – USC Upstate claimed the series opener against Charleston Southern on Friday night by a final score of 9-1. The win moves the Spartans to 7-6 in league play while the Bucs fall to 5-5.
 
USC Upstate started the game by tallying the first seven runs of the game for a big lead. In the third, they loaded the bases with no outs. The Bucs were able to retire the next two batters they faced, but with two outs, they cleared the bases with a grand slam to left field. In the fourth, they had a solo home run followed by sacrifice flies later in that inning and in the fifth.
 
In the sixth, Charleston Southern loaded the bases. Chandler Tuupo drew a walk to score Ethan Reader from third for the first run of the day.
 
The Spartans went on to get an RBI single in the sixth and an RBI groundout in the seventh to place the score at 9-1 which proved to be the final.
 
As a team, the Bucs had three hits with Kain Collins, Nathan Martinez and Reader getting these. They also drew five walks with Blake Edgmon getting two of these.
 
Titus Von Kapff started for Charleston Southern and pitched the first 6.0 innings. He allowed eight earned runs to go with eight hits, three walks and struck out three batters. Tristan Stephenson and Hunter Porter each tossed an inning with Stephenson allowing one and Porter not giving up a run in their times on the mound.
 
The two teams will return to Harley Park tomorrow afternoon for the second game of the series at 3 p.m. The game will be available live on ESPN+ with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.