Box Score
CHARLESTON, SC – The Charleston Southern Buccaneers scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on a double by Drew Woodall to defeat the Winthrop Eagles 7-5 at the CSU Ballpark on Friday afternoon.
The Eagles fall to 13-16 on the season and 1-6 in the Big South Conference, while the Buccaneers improve to 15-18 overall and 4-5 in conference play.
Tyler Mizenko (0-3) took the loss for Winthrop surrendering two runs on three hits, no walks and two strikeouts in just an inning of work. Jesse Cadenhead (4-3) tossed 2.0 scoreless innings of relief to pick up the victory on the mound and allowed just one hit, no walks and two strikeouts.
Charleston Southern took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Tyler Thornburg's two-run homer to left field off Eagle starter Robert Lake. Jon Matthews scored on the long ball after he singled prior to Thornburg coming to the plate.
The Eagles answered back with three runs in the third inning to take a 3-2 lead over the Buccaneers. Eddie Rohan drove in the first run of the inning with his single to left field that brought home Tyler Cook, who reached on an infield single two batters earlier. Tyler McBride scored on a wild pitch by Charleston Southern starter Anthony Markham and Rohan would later come home when Chas Crane reached on an error by Matthews in center field.
Winthrop increased its lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth when Cook reached on an error by the third baseman that drove in Zak Blair. Blair singled to the shortstop in his at-bat.
The Buccaneers responded to tie the game at 4-4 in their half of the fifth inning highlighted by an RBI single by Bentley Christmas scoring Woodall. Woodall had a double earlier in the inning. Christmas later scored on a throwing error to first base by Tyler Donovan.
The Eagles re-gained the lead at 5-4 in the top of the seventh on Sean Sullivan's RBI single to center field, but Charleston Southern tied the game back up at 5-5 in the seventh inning on Thornburg's RBI sacrifice fly to McBride in center field.
Sullivan led Winthrop offensively with a 3-for-5 performance and one RBI at the plate, while Cook and Rohan added two hits apiece. Woodall had a team-high two hits for the Buccaneers on the afternoon and Thornburg drove in three runs.
Cook extended his season-high hitting streak to 15 games in the contest with his infield single in the first inning.
The Eagles and Charleston Southern will resume the series with game two on Saturday, Apr. 10 at 2 p.m.
