USC Upstate beat Longwood 11-1 on Sunday to sweep the weekend series in Farmville.
Devin Buckner led the Upstate offense with four hits in six at-bats. Buckner also recorded three runs. The Spartans offense finished with 17 hits and six batters had a multi-hit game.
Hunter Gilliam paced the Lancers bats with two hits which included a solo-home run for the lone Longwood run in the game.
“I talked to the guys and just told them this weekend we took a couple steps back,” said head coach Chad Oxendine after the team’s third defeat to Upstate. “It’s very important that we get back on the grind on Tuesday. I told them tomorrow we just need to clear our heads. This weekend doesn’t define who we are as a team, we’re much better than how we played. All credit to Upstate though they’re an incredible team, we just did not play well on all facets of the game.”
Upstate (30-18, 16-5) scored first for the third consecutive game when Noah Sullivan singled home Devin Buckner after Buckner had doubled prior.
A fourth inning Longwood (19-27, 9-9) solo shot courtesy of Hunter Gilliam tied the game at one. The home run was Gilliam’s second in as many days.
The Spartans immediately responded in the top half of the fifth with three runs of their own. Noah Rabon singled home Buckner to start the small rally and Troy Hamilton tripled home Rabon. Cameron Macintosh then recorded the third consecutive Spartan hit with a double down the left field line to score Hamilton from third. The fourth consecutive hit that resulted in an RBI was an Easton Cullison single that fell in the right center gap to cap the four-run inning.
Upstate went on to add four more runs in the next three frames to extend their lead to eight. A Noah Myers home run over the right field fence highlighted their three run burst during the three frames.
Andrew Melnyk (2-4) started on the mound for Longwood and surrendered four runs in 4.2 innings. Melnyk surrendered eight runs and walked two while he picked up his fourth loss on the season. The Lancers used Dominick D’Ercole, Michael Tolson, Logan Berrier and Sean Gibbons in relief. The bullpen gave up
Jacob Curry (5-3) got the start for Upstate and went 7.2 innings. Curry gave up just one run on four hits and struck out three. Kevin Davis finished the last 1.1 innings and completed the game for the Spartans while not allowing any more Longwood runs.
“We need to stop looking at the standings and just be who we are,” further commented Oxendine on what he’s telling the team before next weekends series at Radford. “We have to continue to get to work and get back to work and continue to play hard. We need to give these last two weeks everything we’ve got.”
Longwood returns to action Wednesday in Charlottesville where they’ll take on the nationally ranked Cavaliers in a midweek matchup.
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