Nov. 12, 2007

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - As the USC Upstate baseball team prepares for the jump to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference, Ping! Baseball.com, one of the nation's best Web sites devoted to the world of collegiate baseball sat down with seniors Kyle Bowley, Scott Eckard and Andrew Runion for the Web site's Spotlight Interview.

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When the first pitch is thrown in the February 22nd tilt between the USC Upstate Spartans and the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders, the Spartans will join NJIT as a team who recently made the jump to DI baseball. After a successful run in Division II, USC Upstate will be joining two other former Peach Belt conference schools North Florida and Kennesaw State (as well as the NJIT who made the move last year from the Eastern College Athletic Conference) as teams that have made the transition to the highest level of competitive college baseball.

A trio of seniors will be leading the Spartans in their first season. First baseman Andrew Runion (.341, 4, 43), DH/P Kyle Bowley (.270, 2, 26 & 4-2, 6.06, 52 IP, 41 SO as a pitcher) and left-handed hurler Scott Eckard (3.01, 89.2 IP, 73 SO, 29 BB) will be aiming to make the Spartans first season in the Atlantic Sun conference a memorable one. Victories will be harder to come by in Spartanburg this spring, as Upstate has 17 games in 2008 schedueld against teams that finished in the top 100 in RPI in 2007. However the three have yet to experience a season without 30-wins, and don't count on 2008 being the first season they don't meet that plateau. The Spartan seniors recently took some time out preparing for next season to answer some questions from Ping!

To read the rest of the interview, please visit: Ping! Baseball Spotlight Interview.