Upstate Claims Battle for Spartanburg

Back on April 1st, 2025, Fifth Third Park – the ballpark we have come to love that has all the flavor of Spartanburg as the home of the Hub City Spartanburgers, received its christening when USC Upstate and Wofford played the first-ever game in the state-of-the art downtown facility. The game, won 5-2 by the Terriers, was the start of a new annual tradition. Tuesday night marked the second installment of the re-kindled rivalry, with Max Kaplan (2-1, 3.26 ERA) going opposite Wofford left hander John Gray (0-0, 6.75).

The Terriers would threaten early after a 1 out single from center fielder Niko Brini, who later stole 2nd. But Kaplan picked him off to stave it off, settling in to retire designated hitter Logan Tribble on a pop up to second. In the bottom half of the inning, USC Upstate capitalized on their threat that started on Gray’s third pitch, which Henry Zenor lined through the right side for a base hit. Jake Armsey followed with a knock of his own on which Zenor went first-to-third. Tyler Lang grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to bring in the game’s first run, but Maloy Heaghney went down swinging to send the game to the 2nd with the Spartans leading 1-0.

USC Upstate added another in the bottom of the second inning with a rally that started on a leadoff single from Wylie Waters. After Preston Lucas was hit by a pitch, Gage Griggs laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners up ninety feet. Kenan Bowman would land the next blow on a sacrifice fly to center, plating Waters. Trey Bentley struck out to end the inning, sending the game to the third.

Wofford was able to get their offense going in the 4th frame with one away when Tribble hit the first of three straight singles. The third of those, off the bat of Andrew Mannelly, cracked the goose egg for the Terriers. Wofford opted to play some small ball from there as first baseman Hunter Herndon laid down a suicide squeeze to bring home left fielder Ben Timblin. Second Baseman James Layman laid a slow rolling bunt toward the third base side of the mound. Kaplan came off and fielded it, initially not having a play, but Mannelly came off the bag at third and was tagged out 1-5 on the fielders choice to retire the side with the contest knotted at 2 apiece.

Kaplan departed after 4 innings, having struck out one, given up 5 hits and 2 earned runs, while not giving up a single walk. He gave way to Jacob Kirby, who ran into some trouble thanks to a 1 out walk to Wofford shortstop Brady Gold. After a wild pitch, third baseman Cade Collins was plunked. Brini narrowly missed a three run homer, flying out to the back of the warning track in right to advance both runners. But, Tribble flied to center to leave them there, setting the stage for USC Upstate to break the game open in the bottom of the fifth.

Gray’s line would end after four with 2 earned runs on 3 hits, a walk, and 4 strikeouts. He was replaced by former Boiling Springs Bulldog Corben Childrers. Bowman got things started with a single and later stole 2nd. With one down, Zenor and Armsey worked back to back full count walks to load the bases. After Lang struck out, Maloy Heaghney deposited a fly ball over the head of the right fielder for a triple, clearing the bases to give the Spartans a 5-2 lead entering the 6th inning.

Kirby would end up tossing three scoreless, earning the win in relief by striking out one while walking 2 with just one hit. Reece Hemmerling took over and got the save, hanging two zeroes on 2 hits, no walks, and a K as USC Upstate went on to duplicate the score of last year’s edition of this contest with a 5-2 victory that snapped a 5-game losing skid.

Upstate was led by Heaghney, who went 1 for three with 3 runs batted in while Bowman went 1 for 2 at the dish with a run scored and an RBI. Wofford was led by Mannelly with an RBI on a 2-3 night while Hunter Herndon had the lone other batted in despite an 0 for 3 game at the plate.

This weekend, USC Upstate (8-10) will host the High Point Panthers in a critical first Big South Conference series of the season. The three-game set will start Friday afternoon at 3:00, will continue Saturday at 2, and conclude Sunday at 1:00. Wofford (10-6) has another home midweek contest coming up against the College of Charleston tomorrow at 5:30 before hosting a 4-game series against the Princeton Tigers this weekend. That set starts Friday at 5:30, will continue with a double header on Saturday scheduled for 1:00 and 5:00 respectively, and wraps up at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon.