On a nearly perfect day for college baseball, the South Alabama Jaguars would return to Stanky Field for game two of the 2026 season as they look to take the series with a game two winner over the USC Upstate Spartans. A Spartan team that ran through the Big South Conference last season, and came into the 2026 season as the preseason second-place projected finisher, but many people consider them to be the team to beat out of the Big South Conference. 

For South Alabama, despite facing the disrespect of the preseason polls after being picked to finish 11th in the Sun Belt, the Jaguars looked to silence the early-season critics with a massive series win over USC Upstate on Saturday after taking game one of the series 16-7 on Friday night. 

South Alabama starting pitcher Max Miller went 1.1 innings, giving up four hits and four earned runs while striking out two Spartan batters. 

For the Spartans of South Carolina Upstate, Brent Stukes went for five complete innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs, while striking out six and walking two. Max Eichenberger would come in for a relief stint in the bottom half of the 6th inning with a cushion of a 7-3 lead. 

South Carolina Upstate would quickly flip the script on South Alabama in the first, taking an early 1-0 lead on the Jaguars behind Timely hitting and a struggling Max Miller on the mound. South Alabama would tie things up in the bottom half of the first off the bat of Duncan Matthews with a solo shot to make it 1-1 heading to the second. USC Upstate would see the bats explode a bit in the second inning, putting together a three-run second inning to extend the lead to 4-1. South Alabama would have a solo shot from Paxton Bigby to cut the lead to 4-2 at the end of the second inning. A double from Kenan Bowman would score Maloy Heaghney to extend the Spartans’ lead to 5-2 in the top half of the third inning. South Alabama would cut the lead to 5-3 in the fourth with a timely hit off the bat of Blake Guerin with a base hit that scored Paxton Bigby. South Carolina Upstate added a run from South Alabama with a two-run 5th inning to extend the lead to 7-3. South Carolina Upstate would add two more runs in the 7th inning to extend the lead over South Alabama to 9-3. South Carolina Upstate would add another insurance run in the 8th to extend the lead to 10-3. 

What happened to South Alabama on Friday night with explosive offense is what South Carolina Upstate had on Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s game three has all the potential to be a really good baseball game, as both the Jaguars and Spartans could use a series win to build off for the rest of the season. Here’s the truth: There’s a lot of baseball to be played this season, and comparing the Big South to the Sun Belt feels a bit reckless, but these two have shown enough through two games to give excitement that both could be postseason regional teams come the last weekend of May. So far through two games, we’ve seen a combined 50 runs between the two. 

Sunday’s series-deciding game three will be broadcast on ESPN Plus, with first pitch slated for 1:00. 

Photo Credits- USC Upstate baseball on X