University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Friday, May 21
Asheville, NC
1:00 PM
UNC Asheville
15-32, 0
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USC Upstate
36-14, 0
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USC Upstate
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UNC Asheville
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Photo by: Mark Godin
Bulldogs Close Out Regular Season with a Pair of Close Losses to USC Upstate
05.21.2021 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team closed out its 2021 season with a pair of close losses to USC Upstate Friday afternoon at Greenwood Field. Upstate won game one by a score of 4-3 before rallying late to take game two, 7-4. Asheville finishes its 2021 season with an overall record of 15-33 and 14-26 in Big South play.
Game One Recap – The first game of the day was full of opportunities to score by both teams. However, starting pitchers Jacob Edwards for Asheville and Alex Garbrick for Upstate both did a stellar job in avoiding big innings.
Asheville would strike first with a pair of runs in the third to give Edwards an early lead to protect. Upstate had several chances to answer back, totaling 10 hits off the Bulldog lefthander, but Edwards worked out of trouble more times than not. The Spartans finally scratched across a run in the fifth before chasing Edwards from the game in the seventh with his pitch count nearing the 110-mark.
With the Spartans now into the Bulldog bullpen, they quickly tallied three hits off reliever Trey Jernigan. Those hits led to a total of three runs being scored in the seventh and gave Upstate its first lead of the day, 4-2.
The Bulldogs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh as Brandon Lankford drove in Grayson Preslar with a sacrifice fly to make it, 4-3. Asheville would threaten to score in the eighth and ninth as it had at least one runner get into scoring position in each inning. However, Upstate's bullpen was able to get itself out of both jams and held on for the 4-3 victory.
Offensively, most of Asheville's production was at the top of the order as nine of the team's 10 hits came from the first four guys in the batting order. Dominic Freeberger and Lankford each finished with three hits, while Sebastian Dunn picked up his second multi-hit game of the series going 2-for-5.
Edwards' last outing in 2021 lasted six innings. He allowed two runs on 10 hits to go with three strikeouts. Following Upstate's three-run seventh, Ethan Tressler came in and tossed two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to give Asheville a chance to come back. Tressler struck out three Spartans in his outing out of the bullpen.
Game Two Recap – Much like in game one, pitching dominated through the early going in game two. Upstate scored first with single runs in the third and fifth off Asheville starter Kole Harris. However, the Bulldogs tied the score at two in the bottom of the fifth.
The two teams both scored a run in the seventh to move the score to 3-3 before Michael Groves put Asheville ahead with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, 4-3. However, Upstate would answer back significantly in the top of the ninth as it would total seven hits and score four times to vault back in front, 7-4. Asheville did get a runner on base in the bottom of the ninth, but Upstate closer Kevin Davis shut the door for his second save of the day to finish off the 7-4 win.
Dunn capped his stellar series with another multi-hit outing going 3-for-4 to pace the offense. Fermin Osio went 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Preslar accounted for two of Asheville's three runs batted in to round out the offensive leaders for the Bulldogs.
Harris closed out his career as a Bulldog with a seven-inning start. He allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out four. Freeberger ended up taking the loss, moving his record to 2-1 after allowing six hits and four runs during his relief appearance.
Game One Recap – The first game of the day was full of opportunities to score by both teams. However, starting pitchers Jacob Edwards for Asheville and Alex Garbrick for Upstate both did a stellar job in avoiding big innings.
Asheville would strike first with a pair of runs in the third to give Edwards an early lead to protect. Upstate had several chances to answer back, totaling 10 hits off the Bulldog lefthander, but Edwards worked out of trouble more times than not. The Spartans finally scratched across a run in the fifth before chasing Edwards from the game in the seventh with his pitch count nearing the 110-mark.
With the Spartans now into the Bulldog bullpen, they quickly tallied three hits off reliever Trey Jernigan. Those hits led to a total of three runs being scored in the seventh and gave Upstate its first lead of the day, 4-2.
The Bulldogs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh as Brandon Lankford drove in Grayson Preslar with a sacrifice fly to make it, 4-3. Asheville would threaten to score in the eighth and ninth as it had at least one runner get into scoring position in each inning. However, Upstate's bullpen was able to get itself out of both jams and held on for the 4-3 victory.
Offensively, most of Asheville's production was at the top of the order as nine of the team's 10 hits came from the first four guys in the batting order. Dominic Freeberger and Lankford each finished with three hits, while Sebastian Dunn picked up his second multi-hit game of the series going 2-for-5.
Edwards' last outing in 2021 lasted six innings. He allowed two runs on 10 hits to go with three strikeouts. Following Upstate's three-run seventh, Ethan Tressler came in and tossed two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to give Asheville a chance to come back. Tressler struck out three Spartans in his outing out of the bullpen.
Game Two Recap – Much like in game one, pitching dominated through the early going in game two. Upstate scored first with single runs in the third and fifth off Asheville starter Kole Harris. However, the Bulldogs tied the score at two in the bottom of the fifth.
The two teams both scored a run in the seventh to move the score to 3-3 before Michael Groves put Asheville ahead with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, 4-3. However, Upstate would answer back significantly in the top of the ninth as it would total seven hits and score four times to vault back in front, 7-4. Asheville did get a runner on base in the bottom of the ninth, but Upstate closer Kevin Davis shut the door for his second save of the day to finish off the 7-4 win.
Dunn capped his stellar series with another multi-hit outing going 3-for-4 to pace the offense. Fermin Osio went 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Preslar accounted for two of Asheville's three runs batted in to round out the offensive leaders for the Bulldogs.
Harris closed out his career as a Bulldog with a seven-inning start. He allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out four. Freeberger ended up taking the loss, moving his record to 2-1 after allowing six hits and four runs during his relief appearance.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: MORGAN, Austin (4-1)
L: Jernigan, Trey (1-5)
S: DAVIS, Kevin (10)
Batting:
2B: BUCKNER, Devin 1 ; MAYNARD, Damon 1
3B: RABON, Noah 1
RBI: BUCKNER, Devin 3 ; RABON, Noah 1
SF: BUCKNER, Devin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HENNESSY, Jack 2 ; MATTHEWS, Jason 1 ; BUCKNER, Devin 1
CS: MCGAHA, Robby 1
HBP: RABON, Noah 1
Batting:
2B: Dunn, Sebastian 1 ; Groves, Michael 1
RBI: Lankford, Brandon 1 ; Dunn, Sebastian 1 ; Heintz, PJ 1
SF: Lankford, Brandon 1 ; Heintz, PJ 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Freeberger, Dominic 1 ; Preslar, Grayson 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
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H
3
RBI
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AB
4
R
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H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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