Spartanburg, SC – USC Upstate scored five runs in the second inning, three of them coming off a homerun by Bret Hansen as the Spartans defeated North Greenville 10-5 on Thursday evening at Harley Park.

The Spartans, winners of seven of their last eight games, move to 23-16 overall on the season. North Greenville drops to 10-33 overall. USC Upstate will face fifth-ranked ColumbusState this weekend. The first two games will be packaged as a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.

USC Upstate took a 2-0 lead in the first when Michael Kohn connected on a two-run homerun, his team-high fifth of the season.

North Greenville would take the lead in the second at 3-2. Kyle Baron doubled home Carlos Cardenas from second. Baron later scored on an error to tie the game at 2-2 while Grayson Smith singled to plate Rick Broadway to take the lead.

USC Upstate would take the lead in the home half of the second at 7-3. Josh Clark scored on a double play ground out and Kyle Bowley scored on a wild pitch to give the Spartans a one-run lead. After back-to-back two out singles by John Caddell and Brad Wingo, Hansen took a 0-2 pitch from reliever Brett Hamilton deep over the fence in left for a three-run homerun, his second of the season, to give the Spartans a four-run lead.

The Crusaders picked up a run in the fourth when Cardenas scored on a wild pitch to make it a 7-4 game.

North Greenville threatened in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs. Cardenas took a pitch deep to dead center off of USC Upstate starter Dennis McCraney that looked to be gone for a grand-slam homerun. However, Hansen caught the fly ball just shy of the fence to get out of the inning with no damage.

In the sixth, Andrew Maddox led off with his first career triple and later scored on a wild pitch to give USC Upstate a 8-4 lead. With two outs and the bases loaded, pinch-hitter Matt Lorenz was hit-by-a-pitch to plate a run and make it a 9-4 game.

The Spartans plated their tenth run in the eighth when Kohn drove in Wingo with a groundout.

Hansen finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three runs driven in. Kohn was 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. Wingo extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a 2-for-4 performance, scoring three runs. Wingo moved into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time career hits list with 199.

Cardenas led the Crusaders, going 2-for-4 with two doubles. Baron finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

McCraney (3-1) earned the victory, working 5.1 innings on 85 total pitches. The loss was charged to North Greenville starter Brandon Bryan (0-1).