It was a night that had been anticipated ever since the announcement was made 2 years ago that Spartanburg, SC would be getting a minor league baseball team for the first time in 30 years, and with it would come a state-of-the art downtown ballpark that would truly be one that “Spartanburgers” could be proud to call their stadium.
Fast forward to April the 1st, 2025. The newly-dried paint can still be smelled in the air. The skyline of downtown Spartanburg gleams in the twilight. The smell of hot dogs, pizza, and beer combined to make for a blissful and nostalgia-inducing feeling that can only mean one thing. A long awaited night of baseball has finally arrived.
Fifth Third Park received its christening before a near-capacity crowd of fans from both USC Upstate and Wofford, who are renewing their cross-town rivalry on the diamond for the first time in 2 years. In the first meeting of the season back on March 19th, ironicallty played in Greenville at Fluor Field, a 6 run third inning highlighted by a grand slam from Scott Campbell propelled the Spartans to an 8-5 victory. For USC Upstate junior lefty Alex Sanderson, that night marked the first start of his career, and it was a memorable one as he allowed just one and 2 unearned runs hit in 5 innings of work with 3 strikeouts.
On Tuesday night, he would get a second crack at it, this time with a shot at making history os one of the first 2 pitchers to toe the rubber in Fifth Third Park. Sanderson would face off against Wofford junior lefty Sheldon Egger.
Unfortunately for Sanderson, things went sideways fairly quickly.
The Spartans recorded the first ever hit in the new stadium on a nubber uop the 3rd base line that went as an infield single for shortstop Vance Sheahan. But, he was left on as Egger struck out Scott Newman and Johnny Sweeney back to back to retire the side. In the bottom of the frame, Wofford first baseman Tyler Hare laced a double down the right field line with 1 out and later stole third. Sanderson then walked David Wiley and James Layman back to back, but ball 4 to Layman was a wild pitch that allowed Hare to trot home for the first run in the young ballpark’s history. Designated Hitter Andrew Mannelly later added on with an RBI knock to give the Terriers the 2-0 lead heading to the 2nd inning.
USC Upstate responded quickly, cashing in a leadoff single from Scott Campbell with a 1 out RBI double from Preston Lucas and a 2 out run-scoring single from Gage Griggs. But that would be all the offense they could muster the rest of the way.
Sheldon Egger worked 5 and a third innings, holding the Spartans to just 4 hits and surrendering just the 2 earned runs with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks. The Terrier bullpen was equally solid, as John Gray and Michael Sill combined to shut Upstate out over the next 2 and two-thirds innings. Twice in that span, the Spartans had 2 in scoring position and failed to bring them in, leaving 6 on base in total in the game. Upstate also sent the minimum to the plate in 4 different innings.
On the other end of the coin, Sanderson lasted just three frames, surrendering 3 earned on 4 hits with 3 strikeouts and 4 walks. The Terriers salted the game away with a 2 run fifth inning highlighted by a David Wiley RBI single and a sac fly from Andrew Mannelly.
USC Upstate was led by Preston Lucas and Gage Griggs, both of which went 1 for 3 with an RBI. For Wofford, Andrew Mannelly led the way with 3 RBIs on a 1-2 night at the dish. David Wiley also went 1-2 with the Terriers’ lone other run batted in. Ryan Wynn also had a productive night, going 2-4 with a pair of runs scored.
With the historic 5-2 victory, Wofford evened the season seried with the Spartans while improving to 21-9 overall. Upstate fell to .500 on the season at 14-14. The finale of this three game midweek set is scheduled for a week from tonight, which coincidentally is opening night for the Hub City Spartanburgers. First pitch is set for 5:30 PM at Wofford’s Russell C King Field.
Both squads will be back in action with huge series in their respective conferences. The Spartans will hit the road looking to get their bats back to the level of heat they were at before dropping the series this past weekend to East Tennessee State against a high-powered Big South Conference favorite in High Point. Wofford will host the Samford Bulldogs in a Southern Conference showdown.
