Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop baseball team dropped a 10-9 decision to the Stony Brook Seawolves on Sunday afternoon at The Winthrop Ballpark. It was the final game of the 2011 Bojangles Baseball Classic.
The Eagles fall to 6-8 on the season with the loss, while the Seawolves improve to 7-4 overall.
Mitchell Knox (1-1) took the loss for Winthrop surrendering three runs on two hits, no walks and no strikeouts in 1.0 relief inning. G.C. Yeary (1-0) tossed 4.1 innings of relief to earn the victory giving up two runs on two hits, two walks and two strikeouts. William Carmona (2) picked up the save throwing 2.2 innings and gave up one run on four hits, no walks and one strikeout.
“There are no moral victories in baseball,” said head coach Tom Riginos. “We competed today, the effort was there and had an opportunity to win the game late. It's a tough loss. Good, tough teams find a way to win those games. There is a small margin for error between winning and losing, and you saw it out there today.”
Stony Brook came out in the top of the first inning and plated two runs with two outs to go ahead of the Eagles 2-0. Winthrop starter Kenny Monteith got the first two batters to groundout and fly out, but then allowed back-to-back singles to Carmona and Maxx Tissenbaum. Tanner Nivins drove in Carmona with an RBI infield single, and Travis Jankowski drew a bases loaded walk.
The Eagles answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first to go on top 3-2. Adam Gliebe started the inning with a double to right center field, and later came home to score on Chas Crane's RBI single to left field. Crane later went to third on a double by Eddie Rohan, and a throwing error by Nivins in left field allowed him to score. Brett Thomas then drove in Rohan on an RBI sacrifice fly to left field.
The Seawolves plated two more runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 on a Stephen Marino RBI sacrifice fly to right center field and Jankowski's RBI single, but Winthrop came back in the bottom of the third with three runs to re-gain the lead at 6-4. All three runs scored by the Eagles came on a Matt Lobacz pinch-hit double to right center field, driving in Rohan, Thomas and TJ Olesczuk.
Stony Brook tied the contest at 6-6 with two runs in the sixth on an RBI triple by Joshua Mason and an RBI groundout by Kevin Courtney. The Seawolves added four runs in the top of the seventh inning to make it a 10-6 game. Marino, Nivins and Pat Cantwell all had an RBI in the inning, while Courtney scored on a throwing error by Tommy Lawrence.
Winthrop cut the deficit to 10-8 with two runs of its own in the bottom-half of the seventh. Lobacz drove in both runs of the inning for the second time in the game on a single to left field.
The Eagles attempted a rally in the bottom of the ninth inning loading the bases with one out against Carmona. Walters brought in the only run of the inning with a single to left field to trim the lead to 10-9, while keeping the bases loaded. Carmona then got Adam Gliebe to hit into a game-ending double play.
Olesczuk and Lobacz each had a team-high three hits on the afternoon for Winthrop, while Lobacz had a career-high five RBI. Five different Stony Brook played posted two hits each, while Marino, Nivins and Jankowski had two RBI apiece.
The Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday, Mar. 15 hosting The Citadel Bulldogs in their first midweek contest of the season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
