Thursday, February 04, 2010

MACON, Ga. – As the 2010 NCAA Baseball season approaches, the Atlantic Sun Conference takes a looks at each team leading up to the start of the season on Feb. 19. Today the USC Upstate Spartans fall under the microscope.

Overview
The Spartans return four starters, seven pitchers and 17 of 30 letterwinners from a squad that finished 17-37 and went 7-23 in conference play a season ago. The Hunter Green, White and Black posted a record of 8-18 at Harley Park in 2009. USC Upstate enters its 13th season under head coach Matt Fincher. The Spartans own a record of 274-378 all-time under the Georgia Southern graduate. USC Upstate closed the 2009 campaign winning seven of their last 12 games, including a weekend sweep of Campbell in Buies Creek.

Top Returnees
Jimmy Tanner led the Spartans in batting average in 2009, hitting .354 and by scoring 41 runs with 12 doubles and 24 RBIs. Tanner, primarily a catcher, started all 54 games for the Spartans and hits leadoff. The native of Fayetteville, Ga. also led the Spartans in multi-hit games with 22 and reached base in 50 of 54 contests.

Austin Moyer will be a key figure for USC Upstate in 2010, both in the lineup and on the mound. The Greensboro, N.C. native ranks second among returning Spartans in both batting average and earned run average. The sophomore is projected to serve as the designated hitter and third weekend starter. Moyer batted .278 a season ago with 34 RBIs and 21 runs scored. The right handed hurler posted a record of 3-7 striking out 32 in 51.2 innings pitched.

Matt Branham ranks as the Spartans top returning pitcher after leading the team in ERA posting a mark of 4.39 in 2009. The senior right-hander made 15 starts a season ago and held opposing hitters to a .267 batting average. The long ball pestered the Columbia, S.C. native as he gave 12 in the 2009 campaign. Branham also led the Spartans in innings pitched with 82 and strikeouts (82).

Newcomers
The USC Upstate baseball team will have 16 new faces on its roster this season and several are expected to make a big impact.

Leading the way will be a pair of freshman pitchers who will have a chance to start early in the season, as left-hander Scott DeCecco and right-hander Ryan Newell could each earn spots in the weekend rotation. Gaither Bumgardner will also be a key piece of USC Upstate’s team, as the 6-6 Great Falls High graduate could see time as a starting pitcher with a fastball that touches the low 90s and has also earned a slot in the everyday lineup as a corner infielder.

Coach Fincher plans on using at least three new players regularly, as Andre Harris will see significant time in center, Brody Greer will start at shortstop and Bumgardner will hold a corner slot. Fincher also said that infielder Joe Barnes could start at either the corner infield slot or at second base and Tyler Miller could see significant playing time in the outfield. The bullpen will also be bolstered by the appearance of three left-handed freshmen arms in Chris Knauff, Jordan Rusk and Stephen Rozenman.

Schedule (Courtesy USC Upstate Media Relations)
The USC Upstate baseball team has proven, even with the move to Division I, that it is not afraid of a challenge, and the 2010 season will be no exception. The Spartans will play 32 of its 56 games in 2010 against teams that finished 2009 with non-losing records, 21 against teams with 30 or more wins, 18 against teams with an RPI of better than 100 and seven against teams that competed in the NCAA Regional’s.

USC Upstate, celebrating its 25th season of play in 2010, will not stray from the path that Fincher has laid out for the team in its move to the Atlantic Sun Conference and Division I play. Once again, the team will find itself challenged every step of the way, beginning with a game against Appalachian State, which went 33-21 and finished 83rd in the RPI in 2009, on Feb. 20.

The Spartans will have a few more advantages up its sleeves in their schedule during the 2010 season, thanks mainly to 30 games in the friendly confines of Harley Park and no non-conference mid-week games more than three hours from the Spartanburg campus, heading only as far south as Charleston and as far north as Knoxville, Tenn.

Fun Fact
Jimmy Tanner started all 54 games for the Spartans last season, 34 as a catcher, 16 as a designated hitter and four as first baseman. Despite playing in three different rolls, Tanner never left the three hole in the Spartan lineup. Tanner and FGCU’s Tim Roberson rank as the only two returning A-Sun players to compete in all of their team’s games in the same spot in the batting order. Both Tanner and Roberson hit third for their respective teams.

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11 Days of Atlantic Sun Baseball Schedule
Feb. 4 – USC Upstate
Feb. 5 – Campbell
Feb. 8 – ETSU
Feb. 9 – Mercer
Feb. 10 – UNF
Feb. 11 – Belmont
Feb. 12 – Stetson
Feb. 15 – Lipscomb
Feb. 16 – Jacksonville
Feb. 17 – Kennesaw State
Feb. 18 – FGCU