Thursday, March 19, 2009

Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins had been stuck on career win 499 for a week thanks to rain that caused five games to be cancelled last weekend. Wednesday at Cyrill Stadium, the Spartans made him wait no longer as Upstate swept Furman in a doubleheader to give the 14-year head coach his 500th career victory.

Upstate won game one, 7-4, and game two, 6-3, to improve to 13-3 on the year. The Spartans open A-Sun play Friday against Campbell at Cyrill Stadium. Furman fell to 8-15 on the year.

Hawkins claimed his 500th career victory with the win. He is the winningest head coach in the history of the Upstate athletic department.

"There are a lot of people out there who have worked harder than me who have not been lucky enough to win as many games," said Hawkins. "I am fortunate to have won some games and I hope to win some more."

Furman jumped on top with a pair of runs in the first inning of game one on a two-run homer Stephanie Cushing. The Spartans rallied to tie the game with two runs in the second on an RBI double from Courtney Feldon and an RBI-single from Amber Patterson. Upstate went on top with a run in the fifth on Crislyn Chewning's sacrifice fly.

Lana Mackey, Furman's starter, helped her own cause with a two-run homer in the sixth inning to give the Paladins a 4-3 lead. However, Upstate took Furman's punch and countered with four runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 7-4 lead. Kim Brasil opened things up with a sacrifice fly, Gibbs followed with a double down the left field line that plated two, and Chewning followed with an RBI-single to do the damage in the inning.

Upstate starter Morgan Childers went the distance to earn the win and improve to 10-1 on the year. She struck out eight in the complete-game win. Mackey took the loss for Furman and fell to 4-7 on the year.