Baseball Earns Fifth Shutout Victory of the Season, Winning Regular Season Finale 7-0 at UNCG - University of South Carolina - Upstate (2024)

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Ending the regular season with momentum heading into next week's Big South Conference Baseball Championship, USC Upstate baseball closed its season with a 7-0 shutout victory over UNC Greensboro Saturday afternoon at UNCG Baseball Stadium.

Combining for the shutout, sophom*ore right-handed pitcher Braden Consaul, freshman righty Cooper Ellingworth, and junior righty Trent Hodgdon scattered six hits and nine total baserunners in the win with just two baserunners advancing into scoring position.

Making his fourth start of the season, Consaul worked 3.0 innings, giving up three baserunners while striking out a career-best four. Ellingworth followed Consaul's lead, throwing a career-long 5.0 innings in relief, striking out a career-high eight before turning the ninth over to Hodgdon who struck out one, ending the game with a punchout.

Backing the pitching, redshirt sophom*ore second baseman Jake Armsey and redshirt senior centerfielder Daniel Gernon recorded multi-RBI games with Armsey tying his career-high RBI total behind a three-run homer—his fifth of the season. The bottom three hitters in Upstate's order, redshirt senior catcher David Pereira, Armsey, and Gernon each recorded multi-hit efforts with two hits apiece.

Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 7; UNCG 0
Records: USC Upstate (34-22; 16-8 Big South); UNCG (33-19; 15-6 SoCon)
Location: UNCG Baseball Stadium | Greensboro, N.C.

How It Happened

• T2: Taking the first pitch he saw to the opposite field, Jake Armsey wrapped a three-run, opposite-field homer around the rightfield foul pole, beginning the day's scoring. Adding another tally, the Spartans took advantage of a wild pitch as Daniel Gernon raced home to score.
• T5: Extending the Upstate lead, Grant Sherrod picked up his 75^th RBI of the season with a single into left, driving home Jace Rinehart to build a five-run advantage.
• T8: Hitting with the bases loaded, Gernon shot one back through the middle to send home Vance Sheahan and David Pereira, lengthening the Upstate lead.

Notable

• Behind his fifth-inning RBI, Grant Sherrod broke a tie with Leonard Thigpen (74 in 1987) for the program's single-season record. His 75 RBI in 2024 rank as the ninth-most in a single season in Big South Conference history.
• Scoring the Spartans' fourth run of the day, Daniel Gernon scored for the 64^th time this season, breaking a tie with Devin Buckner (63 in 2022) for the Division I era (2007-pres.) single-season record. Gernon's total ranks as the fourth-most in a single season in program history.
• Reaching with an eighth-inning single, Vance Sheahan upped his reached base streak to 29 games, the longest by a Spartan—and Upstate true freshman—since 2022. The hit also pushed his hitting streak to nine games, tying the longest hitting streak of his career.
• Earning the shutout victory Saturday, Upstate recorded its fifth shutout victory of the season. The total ties for the second-most in a single season in the D1 era, equalling the team's 2021 pitching staff.
• Racking up eight strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work, Cooper Ellingworth became the sixth Spartan to record eight or more strikeouts in a game this season. He joins Jake Cubbler (eight versus Kentucky on Feb. 17), Henry Proger (10 versus Rider on March 10), Darin Kuskie (eight versus Tennessee Tech on March 12), Mathieu Curtis (eight versus Winthrop on April 7), and Jagger Jefferis (11 versus Longwood on May 10).

Up Next for the Spartans
As the regular season comes to a close, Upstate turns its attention to the Big South Conference Baseball Championship set for May 23-25 at Truist Point in High Point, N.C. The Spartans enter the Championship as the No. 3 seed, meeting No. 2 seed High Point Thursday at 5 p.m. ET.

Connect with the Spartans
Facebook.com/UpstateAthletics
Twitter | @UpstateBSB | @UpstateSpartans
Instagram | @UpstateBSB | @UpstateSpartans
YouTube.com/UpstateSpartans