BOILING SPRINGS – Gardner-Webb pulled away with a five-run fifth inning and beat second-place USC Upstate 10-3 on Friday night in a non-conference game for both teams.
The Runnin' Bulldogs rapped out 16 hits and took the lead for good in the bottom of the first.
Joe Simeone worked eight innings for his sixth win of the year and Gardner-Webb took the first of a three-game weekend series between conference foes just 31 miles apart.
As part of the Big South's unbalanced schedule, each of the four games played between GWU and Upstate this season are non-conference affairs.
The Spartans took an early lead on Noah Myers solo blast to right center in the first, but that advantage was short lived.
Peter Capobianco had the big knock for Gardner-Webb in the first inning, driving home two runs with a clutch two-out single.
Alex Ray led off the second inning with a hard double deep to left center and scored on
Jacob Marcos' single into right field for a 3-1 lead.
Daegan Brady drove in
AJ Jones with a double raked deep into left field for a 4-1 lead in the fourth, and Gardner-Webb put the game away with its rally in the fifth.
Capobianco ripped a single into left – a line drive – and
Bo Rusher III followed with a hard hit double into the gap in right center to drive home a run. Ray legged out a single back to the mound and
Humberto Torres walked to load the bases.
Nate Anderson coaxed an RBI base on balls to drive home Ray and Marcos' fielder's choice plated another. Brady came through with a two-run single into left, driving home Marcos and Torres for a 9-1 lead.
Anderson and Marcos led off the seventh with back-to-back singles and Brady again came through with a big hit – beating out an infield single to put Gardner-Webb up 10-1.
USC Upstate got to the Gardner-Webb bullpen in the ninth for two runs – one earned – but
Huntley Hacker ended the game with a foul ball to first base.
Simeone (6-5) picked up the win with another signature performance. The Groton, Mass., standout twirled 8.0 innings, allowed just four hits and one run. He struck out five batters and walked just two. Hacker allowed one earned run in an inning of relief to close the game.
Brady was the start at the dish, going 4-for-5 with four RBI in the win. Ray went 3-for-5 and both Anderson and Marcos went 2-for-4. Marcos added a SportsCenter quality play in centerfield, robbing a potential grand slam to end the sixth.
Jacob Curry (4-3) took the loss for the Spartans, allowing 11 hits and six earned runs in 4.0 innings. The visitors used three men out the bullpen to finish the game.
Jack Hennessy had a 2-for-3 night to account for a third of USC Upstate's base hits. Four other batters had one hit each.
The two teams will play a doubleheader in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday.
