Baseball Opens Week with Midweek Battle at Upstate

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team opens the week on Tuesday afternoon with a midweek matchup at USC Upstate from Cleveland S. Harley Baseball Park as first pitch is slated for 4 p.m. in Spartanburg. Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ from Harley Park.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Presbyterian (2-7, 1-2 Big South) at USC Upstate (14-3, 7-3 Big South)
WHERE: Cleveland S. Harley Baseball Park (Spartanburg, S.C.)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 (4:00 p.m.)
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Presbyterian Leads 13-11

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Sidearm Stats
RADIO: Fox Sports 98.3 FM
VIDEO: ESPN+ (Tuesday)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes

ON THE MOUND
Tuesday
PC – RHP Alex Flood (0-1, 12.27 ERA, 4 K)
UPST – RHP Trey Miller (0-0, 2.45 ERA, 6 K)

About the Blue Hose
• Kyle Merkle and Chris Veach both hit homers but the Blue Hose came out on the wrong end of a 12-5 decision on Saturday afternoon against Radford at Sherman Carter Memorial Stadium. Ryan Ouzts and Veach paced the Blue Hose offense with a pair of hits apiece in the loss.
• On Friday, Junior Eric Toth used an RBI double in the 11th inning along with pitching the final three innings of the contest to lead the Presbyterian College baseball team to a 7-6 victory over Radford on Friday night at Sherman Carter Memorial Stadium. Toth and Chris Veach led the Blue Hose offense with three hits apiece in the win.

Series History
• Presbyterian and USC Upstate meet on Tuesday for the 25th time in the Blue Hose DI era with PC holding a slim 13-11 lead in the series with the Spartans.
• In 2019, PC earned a three-game sweep from the Spartans in Spartanburg.
• Nick Guimbarda led the Blue Hose offense with a .400 average during the three-game sweep of the Spartans. Jimmy Marcelli posted a .385 average with a home run and four runs driven in.
• Austin Paradis led the Blue Hose pitching staff with four shutout innings in the series with nine strikeouts and a save.

Scouting Upstate
• USC Upstate comes into Tuesday's game with a 14-3 record after taking two-of-three from High Point over the weekend. The Spartans hold a 7-3 record in Big South game this season which is tied with Charleston Southern for the lead in the conference thus far.
• The Spartans are led offensively by Devin Buckner who sits with a .357 average which includes two doubles and a home run. Buckner has driven in 14 runs so far in 2021. Jason Matthews enters Tuesday's contest with a .333 average including a team-high eight doubles.
• Jack Gallagher leads the Spartans with 20 runs driven in. Julian Rip leads Upstate with five stolen bases so far in 2021.
• On the mound, Kevin Davis has tossed 8.2 scoreless innings recording 15 strikeouts and three saves. Sean Hupp has pitched 6.0 innings not allowing an earned run and sits with a 1-1 record.
• Alex Garbrick leads the Spartan starters with a 4-0 record and a 1.35 ERA which includes 31 strikeouts in 26.2 innings pitched.
• Upstate leads the league in batting average (.291), ERA (2.55), fielding pct. (.982), hits (164), on base pct. (.396), runs (113), scoring (6.6), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.81), strikeouts per nine innings (9.5) and WHIP (1.07).

Strong Opening Statements At The Plate
• Chris Veach currently paces the Blue Hose offense with a .455 average to begin the 2021 season as he has hits in all eight games he's played in and 15 total during the Blue Hose first eight games.
• Freshman Ryan Ouzts sits in third on the team currently with a .375 average thru the first eight games. Ouzts is tied for the team lead with Veach totaling three doubles.
• JUCO Transfer Eric Toth has a .278 average so far in 2021 as he has reached base safely in all nine games for the Blue Hose. Toth picked up his first Presbyterian home run of the season at No. 17 Auburn in game two of the series. In the CSU contest, Toth recorded 0.2 innings of relief work with a strikeout. He pitched the final 3.0 innings in a 7-6 win over Radford recording his first win of the season.
• Sean Klein, another JUCO transfer currently leads the team with a pair of long balls and a team-high six RBIs.
• Jay Wetherington, Allen Brown and Brody Fahr each made their first start on Tuesday against CSU. Fahr led the offense with two hits including a double and his first collegiate RBI. Wetherington totaled a base hit while Brown recorded a pair of walks.

Record Chasing
• Senior Eric Miles needs 12 strikeouts to move into third in the Blue Hose D1 record book. Miles currently sits with 200 career strikeouts.
• With his next start, Miles will move into sole possession of seventh in the Blue Hose DI record book for appearances. He will also tie Jesse Harmon for sixth in games started with his next start.
• Miles needs 26.1 innings pitched to past Brian Kehner for fourth in the DI record book for innings in his Blue Hose career.
• Senior Zacchaeus Rasberry needs five stolen bases to move into first in the Blue Hose D1 record book. Rasberry has 31 career stolen bases.
• Rasberry's next triple will move him into a tie for fifth in D1 history with his fifth career triple as a Blue Hose.

Scouting The 2021 Season
• The Blue Hose enter of one the most unique seasons to date in the program's history dating back to 1988 in the modern era. PC is set to embark on a 50 game season which includes 40 games in the Big South along with 10 non-conference matchups.
• On the non-conference side, Presbyterian travels to Auburn (3 games) and Eastern Kentucky (3 games). The Blue Hose also have midweek home-and-home matchups with Wofford and Davidson as well.
• The Blue Hose are set to host three teams in home-and-home conference series this season. PC will face UNC Asheville (Mar.5-6 (H) & Apr. 1-2(A)), Longwood (Mar. 12-13(H) & Apr. 16-17(A)) and Radford (Mar. 19-20 (A) & Apr. 9-10(H)) six times apiece.
• Presbyterian will face two conference teams in five games during the 2021 season, including a home or road weekend series followed by a home-and-home midweek contest. The Blue Hose will host Charleston Southern on March 16 and March 26-27 before traveling to Charleston on May 11. PC will travel to USC Upstate on March 23 and play a weekend series in Spartanburg on April 30-May 1. The Blue Hose and Spartans are slated to meet in Clinton on April 20.
• PC will play four teams in a three-game series either at home or on the road. Campbell will visit Presbyterian for a weekend set on April 23-24, while also hosting Gardner-Webb on May 7-8.

Up Next
• The Blue Hose return home for a three-game weekend series with Charleston Southern beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. from the PC Baseball Complex. The two teams will meet for a doubleheader at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Jimmy Marcelli: INF; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#27 Allen Brown: C; 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R

#38 Alex Flood: P; 6' 3"; Sophomore; R/R

#32 Kyle Merkle: 1B; 6' 6"; Sophomore; R/R

#17 Eric Miles: P; 6' 1"; Fifth Year; R/R

#5 Austin Paradis: P; 5' 11"; Senior; L/L

#4 Zacchaeus Rasberry: OF; 6' 2"; Fifth Year; R/R

#2 Brody Fahr: INF; 5' 11"; Freshman; L/R

#22 Ryan Ouzts: UTL/P; 5' 8"; Freshman; R/R

#10 Chris Veach: INF/P; 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R

#7 Eric Toth: P/UTL; 6' 4"; Junior; R/R

#18 Sean Klein: INF; 5' 10"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#22 Jimmy Marcelli
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: INF

#27 Allen Brown
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R
: C

#38 Alex Flood
: 6' 3"; Sophomore; R/R
: P

#32 Kyle Merkle
: 6' 6"; Sophomore; R/R
: 1B

#17 Eric Miles
: 6' 1"; Fifth Year; R/R
: P

#5 Austin Paradis
: 5' 11"; Senior; L/L
: P

#4 Zacchaeus Rasberry
: 6' 2"; Fifth Year; R/R
: OF

#2 Brody Fahr
: 5' 11"; Freshman; L/R
: INF

#22 Ryan Ouzts
: 5' 8"; Freshman; R/R
: UTL/P

#10 Chris Veach
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R
: INF/P

#7 Eric Toth
: 6' 4"; Junior; R/R
: P/UTL

#18 Sean Klein
: 5' 10"; Junior; R/R
: INF