SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The rubber match between Longwood baseball and USC Upstate went to Upstate (26-22, 13-5 Big South) on Sunday afternoon.
 
The two sides had split the opening games of a three-game series, but the Spartans outhit Longwood (11-37, 5-16 Big South) in the finale to win 14-4 in eight innings.
 
Carter Newman hit a home run for Longwood, his third this season, but Preston Lucas hit two home runs for the homestanding Spartans while driving in six runs.
 
SCORE:
               R             H            E
LWU      4             8             2
USCU    14           16           1
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
Both sides were scoreless through two innings, and Joe Castrichini gave Longwood a solid start.
 
Henry Zenor gave Upstate a lead with a solo home run in the third. The Spartans then loaded the bases and plated one more.
 
Lucas extended it with homers in both the fifth and sixth inning to make it 11-0 before Longwood found some purchase in the seventh inning.
 
Matt Stevenson roped an RBI double down the line for Longwood's first run, and Casey Gibbs followed it with a sacrifice fly. Newman then whalloped his home run to left center for a two-run blast to cut it to 11-4. Newman finished 2-4 at the plate on the day.
 
However, Upstate answered with three runs in the next two innings to end the game.
 
Chris Torres (6-4) earned the win for USC Upstate with six shutout innings. The lefthander gave up only three hits and two walks against seven strikeouts in his outing.
 
Joe Castrichini (1-3) took the loss for Longwood. He gave up five runs, four earned, in five innings while striking out four against two walks and five hits. The five innings represented his longest appearance as a Lancer.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"Give credit to Upstate on a good weekend," said Longwood Head Coach Ray Noe. "Their Sunday arm was really sharp early and did a good job attacking the zone."
 
"I thought Joe was extremely competitive today, and his stuff was solid," Noe said about his Sunday starter. "He worked out of some tough spots, and the three-run homer was a perfectly executed pitch that snuck out of a small yard."
 
"Now that we are officially out of contention for postseason play, our focus turns to playing spoiler in our last conference weekend against Radford," Noe added.
 
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood has a break for finals week before heading to UNC Greensboro on Tuesday, May 13 for a midweek matchup at 6 p.m. The Lancers then return home to close the season against Radford with a three game series Thursday to Saturday, May 15-17.
 
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