Columbia
USC Upstate
Baseball Rallies for 6-4 Win at USC Upstate
3/21/2015 3:59:00 PM | Baseball
BOX SCORE (.html) | BOX SCORE (.pdf)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Columbia baseball team scored erased a two-run deficit, scoring four times in the eighth inning to pick up a 6-4 win at USC Upstate Saturday. The Lions improved to 6-9 with the victory.
Harrisen Egly slammed the door with a perfect two innings of work to earn his first save of the year. George Thanopoulos (1-3) had a strong outing, giving up just one earned runs on four hits to go with five punch-outs in seven innings.
Will Savage and Adams started the game with singles to put runners on the corners. Adams was caught breaking towards second, but extended the rundown long enough to allow Savage to come in to make it 1-0.
A walk and single put runners on the corners with two outs in the third for the Spartans (8-14). James Fowlkes hit a chopper to short, but there was a bobble of the ball trying to flip it to second for the force play and USC Upstate tied the score.
The Spartans went in front in the fourth on a double from Erik Samples followed by an RBI single from Jake Beaver. In the fifth, USC Upstate took advantage of a pair of defensive miscues and scored two unearned runs to push the margin to 4-1.
Robinette narrowly missed his first home run, doubling off the wall in the sixth to plate John Kinne to cut the deficit to two.
In the top of the eighth, it was Columbia who capitalized on errors to take the lead. Chris Smutny hit a pinch-hit single to kick things off. David Vandercook put runners on first and second with a walk and Robinette drove in his second run of the day with a single
A groundout moved Vandercook and Smutny to second and third, respectively, for Adams. The speedy sophomore forced the Spartan third baseman to make a bad throw on a chopper to tie things up and prolong the inning.
After a Jordan Serena base on balls, Joey Falcone hit a slow roller to third that he beat out to knock in the go-ahead run. Another throwing error on the play made it 6-4.
Kinne went 3-for-5, while Adams, Falcone and Robinette each had two hits.
The Lions will conclude their spring break trip and series with USC Upstate on Sunday, March 22. Please note tomorrow's game time has been changed to 11 a.m. in anticipation of inclement weather later in the afternoon in Spartanburg.
