The USC Upstate Spartans baseball team has seen nine current players sign to play with Summer League teams. These players will be playing for teams that are from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, Kansas, Illinois, and North Carolina. The players look forward to improving their game and returning to USC Upstate for the fall semester to start preparing for the 2020 collegiate season.
The first player to sign was that of Sophomore pitcher Jordan Marks. Marks will be playing his summer ball for the Newport Gulls which is based in Newport, Rhode Island. Marks started 15 games that he appeared in this season. Marks held an ERA (Earned Run Average) of 4.44 to go with 64 strikeouts in his sophomore season.
Junior pitcher Sean Hupp has signed to play with the Valley Blue Sox based out of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Hupp appeared in 21 games this season and started 7 of those games. Marks maintained an ERA of 4.57 to go along with 38 strikeouts in his junior season with the Spartans.
Sophomore Austin Morgan will be participating with the Covington Lumberjacks bases out of Covington, Virginia. Morgan played two different positions this season in that of catcher and pitcher. As a pitcher Morgan saw action in 20 games in which he started 14 of them. As a catcher Morgan had a batting average of .128, to go along with his fielding numbers of 108 putouts, 6 assists, and 3 errors. These stats gave Morgan a fielding percentage of .974 on the season. As the Lumberjacks have now played 7 games in the season, Morgan has appeared in 4 games in which he has yet to pick up a hit. Morgan has also pitched in one game and currently has at ERA of 18.00.
Sophomore outfielder Jeff Taylor has also signed to play with the Covington Lumberjacks. Taylor appeared in 42 games in his sophomore season. Taylor had a batting average of .360 to go along with 3 homeruns, 3 triples, 13 doubles, and 29 RBIs (Runs Batted In). So far this summer with the Lumberjacks Taylor is batting .111 while he has scored 2 runs and has been walked 3 times. Taylor also has one stolen base and has been caught stealing one time as well.
Freshmen infielder Garett Wallace will be playing with the DeLand Suns out of DeLand, Florida. During his freshmen season here at USC Upstate, Wallace played in 40 games in which he maintained a batting average of .275 and scored 26 runs. So far with the Suns Wallace has appeared in 7 games and holds a batting average of .273. Wallace also had scored 5 runs and has 7 RBIs.
Sophomore pitcher Jonathan Carlyle will be playing for the Ocean Forest O’s in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Carlyle appeared in 12 games and had an ERA of 5.82 this past season with the Spartans.
Freshmen outfielder Jack Hennessy is participating with the Carolina Vipers out of Charlotte, North Carolina. In Hennessy’s freshmen season he started in 30 games out of the 38 games that he made an appearance in. Hennessy held a batting average of .225 and drove in 11 runs. Hennessy had 107 putouts from the outfield and held a fielding percentage of .991. So far for the Vipers Hennessy is batting .364 while scoring 1 run on 4 hits through 4 games.
Junior outfielder Julian Rip will be playing with the Wichita Sluggers in Kansas. This past collegiate season for the Spartans Rip seen action in 47 games in which he started in 46 games. Rip maintained a batting average of .319 to go along with 4 homeruns. His batting average ranked fourth for the Spartans team. He also was the best on the team with 30 RBIs. In the field Rip held a fielding percentage of .977 in which included 5 assists, 121 putouts and 3 errors.
Junior outfielder Robby McGaha is currently playing for the Quincy Gems out of Quincy, Illinois. In McGaha’s junior season with the Spartans he started in 36 games in which he had a batting average of .255. McGaha racked up 7 doubles, 4 triples, and 2 homeruns. In the field he had 80 putouts which helped him to achieve a fielding percentage of .988. So far with the Gems he is hitting .176 through 9 games. He has scored 5 runs and drove in 3 RBIs.