Carson Shupe Walk-Off Single Leads Upperman To 5-4 Victory Over Livingston Academy

By Michael Lindsay

The Upperman Bees opened their two-game District 7-3A baseball series with Livingston in the win column on Monday as a Carson Shupe walk-off single delivered his team a 5-4 victory.

“This is a game that doesn’t take much to get up for,” said Upperman head coach Wes Shanks. “They’re ranked 7th in the state in the class 3A polls and they’re at the top of the district standings.”

Shupe went 1-4 at the plate with two RBIs while Denton Huddleston went 2-3. Jackson Green went 1-3 two RBIs for the Bees while Livingston’s Drew Goolsby went 1-4 with a double and a runs scored.

Upperman scored a run in the bottom of the first, third and fourth innings via a double by Wolke, a Shupe grounder and a Livingston error to take a 3-0 lead through five innings.

Livingston got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth inning as a Ethan Westmoreland single, Brody Threet grounder and Sawyer McBride single scored Corbin Bournes, Drew Goolsby and Westmoreland to tie the game at 3-3.

Upperman responded in the bottom of the sixth via a two-out single to  center by Jackson Green to give his team a 4-3 advantage. Livingston tied the game again in the top of the fifth as an errant throw to second base allowed Elijah Taylor to score, tying the game at 4-4.

“We put ourselves in some tough situations, and Livingston kind of did the same thing,” said Shanks. “I’m proud of them because they had a lot of adversity. They could have let a foe come in and take a win from them, but they battled back.”

Upperman held Livingston from taking the lead as they turned a double play followed by a Chris Wirsing strikeout to enter the bottom of the seventh inning tied at 4-4.

Andrew Headrick led the inning off with a single and advanced to third via a Wirsing single, setting up Shupe’s walk-off line-drive single to center to give the Bees a 5-4 victory.

“We had a meeting before the last pitch and thought about a couple scenarios we wanted to go through,” said Shanks. “I’m going to let my senior hit; he’s going to play college baseball for a reason. It’s just a blessing to see him come through at the right time, and it’s fun to watch those boys go chase after them.”

Green struck out 8 Wildcats while surrendering 4 hits in 6 innings while Wirsing recorded the win with a strikeout in the top of the seventh on 15 pitches.

“Jackson did a great job coming to the ball game and got ahead early against a quality ball club,” said Shanks. “They’re really hitting the ball well, and Jackson did a phenomenal job keeping them off balance.”

Upperman and Livingston will face off again on Tuesday at Livingston in game two at 5:30 p.m. on UCR.