Baseball | April 02, 2024

Each week, USC Aiken will post notes. This week, the USC Aiken baseball team plays at Catawba on Wednesday, Apr. 3 before traveling to Lander on Friday, Apr. 5, Saturday, Apr. 6 and Sunday, Apr. 7.

Snagging The Series Finale

USC Aiken dropped the first two games of the series against the Bobcats, but bounced back in a big way on Sunday. The Pacers matched the Bobcats toe-to-toe throughout the game. Down 3-0 in the third, USC Aiken tied it in the bottom of the inning. In the fourth, GCSU made it 5-4 but head coach Michael Holder's team plated four runs in the bottom of the stanza. USC Aiken added a run in the fifth and two in the sixth for a 10-5 advantage and notched a 10-9 victory.

Brandon's Big Hit

Leading 8-5 in the sixth inning, Brandon Osypczuk gave the Pacers a five-run edge and secured what turned out to be the game-winning hit and run. Looking at a 3-1 pitch, Osypczuk blasted a home run to right field, scoring Dalton Graves on the play. It marked his first homer as a Pacer.

Muti-Hits & Multi-RBI Performances

Head coach Michael Holder's team had four student-athletes post multi-hit performances in the series finale win over Georgia College & State University and the team had three multi-RBI games. Luke Parker went three-for-five while Capers Molinaroli was two-for-three. Joseph Mozingo went two-for-five and Josh Sharp was two-for-four. Parker tallied three RBI while Mozingo and Brandon Osypczuk notched two RBI apiece.

Derek's Big Day

Derek Espinoza had a tremendous outing in the series finale against the Bobcats. After coming in as a relief pitcher, Espinoza worked 5.2 innings and had four strikeouts. He was able to secure his second win of the season with his effort. 

First Of The Year

Leading 10-9 in the ninth inning of the series finale against Georgia College & State University, head coach Michael Holder went to the bullpen with two runners on base and no outs. AJ Deibel entered the game and promptly struck out the first batter he faced. He then got an out on a fielder's choice before forcing a fly ball to end the game. It marked AJ Deibel's first save of the season and the second of his career.

Big News About The Alumni

On Saturday, March 29, former USC Aiken baseball standout Mitch Spence made his MLB debut for the Oakland A's. In the second game of the season, Spence took the mound in the sixth inning and worked three solid innings. He had three strikeouts and gave up just one run against the Cleveland Guardians. While at USC Aiken from 2017-19, Spence picked up 17 victories, had three complete games, including one shutout. Spence struck out 243 batters in 202.0 innings of work while limiting the opposition to a .224 batting average.

Inside The Numbers

This week, the USC Aiken baseball team plays at Catawba on Wednesday, Apr. 3 before traveling to Lander on Friday, Apr. 5, Saturday, Apr. 6 and Sunday, Apr. 7. Since moving to Division II, the Pacers are 139-67 (67.5 percent) in Wednesday games, 157-115 (57.7 percent) in Friday contests, 363-249 (59.3 percent) I Saturday affairs and 216-164 (56.8 percent) in Sunday games. During the same time, the program is 8-9 on Apr. 3, 13-6 on Apr. 5, 19-4 on Apr. 6 and 12-5 on Apr. 7.

Against The Opponents

This week, the USC Aiken baseball team plays at Catawba on Wednesday, Apr. 3 before traveling to Lander on Friday, Apr. 5, Saturday, Apr. 6 and Sunday, Apr. 7. The Pacers lead the all-time series against Catawba 28-23. USC Aiken holds a 51-32 edge in the all-time series against the Bearcats.