CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team grabbed a lead in its afternoon matchup with USC Upstate on Tuesday, but the visiting Spartans scored eight runs in the eighth inning en route to a 13-7 victory.
PC moves to 18-12 on the year and will host Campbell in a Big South Conference weekend series that begins on Friday at 3 p.m. USC Upstate improves to 16-11.
Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.) went 3-for-3 on the day while Ryan Hagan (Sugar Hill, Ga.) and Brandon Martin (Gray Court, S.C.) each added two hits. The Blue Hose also went error-free.
PC took a 7-5 lead in the seventh inning before the Spartans scored eight in the eighth.
Down 5-3 after three innings, a Cam McRae (Darlington, S.C.) sacrifice fly in the sixth pulled the Blue Hose within one. PC then struck for three in the seventh. Lizanich singled and Martin doubled to put runners on the corners with one out. A lineout brought Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) to the plate and the Spartans intentionally walked the junior, bringing up McRae, who hit a chopper to second base. An error on the throw allowed McRae to reach first and score Lizanich from third, followed by an errant throw by the first baseman to score two more and give PC a 7-5 advantage.
The Spartans struck for seven hits and eight runs in the eighth on their way to the win. Two hit-by-pitches with the bases loaded brought in two and Brandon Patterson hit a two-run base hit as well.
Aaron Preston (Goose Creek, S.C.) walked in the bottom of the ninth and took second on a wild pitch but the Blue Hose could not rally. Freshman reliever Michael Trebendis (Lafayette, Ga.) received the loss, the first decision of his collegiate career.
Upstate scored three runs in the first inning, converting three hits off of starter Chad Sanders (St. Simons Island, Ga.) into a 3-0 lead. Two doubles in the second added another run to the Spartans' lead and two singles and a walk in the third increased the advantage to 5-0.
The Blue Hose pulled to within two in the bottom of the third. Hagan led off with a doubled and took third on a Lizanich bunt single. An error plated Hagan to make the score 5-1 and brought up Martin. The sophomore smacked an 0-2 pitch to deep right field and legged out a triple, scoring two and cutting Upstate's lead to 5-3.
Brody Greer earned the win in relief for the Spartans. Brandon Patterson led the visitors by going 4-for-5.
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Upstate............. 311 000 080 - 13 16 3 (16-11)
Presbyterian College 003 001 300 - 7 10 0 (18-12)
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Pitchers: Upstate - AUGENSTEIN, Ben; SAMPLES, Erik(7); GREER, Brody(7); SEEBA, Daniel(8); HOWARD, Josh(9) and PATTERSON, Brandon. Presbyterian College - SANDERS, Chad; MORRIS, Ryan(3); RICCHI, Michael(6); TREBENDIS, Michael(8); HAYES, Trey(8); CORBIN, Tim(9) and SWAB, Robby; LONG, Derek.
Win-GREER, Brody(2-0) Loss-TREBENDIS, Michael(0-1) T-2:49 A-112
Weather: Mid-60s, clear and bright
RICCHI, M. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
