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Baseball Travels To No. 1 Florida For Two-Game Midweek Series

Eagles And Gators Face Each Other For First Time Since 2002 Season

ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop baseball team will travel to Gainesville, FL for a two-game midweek series against the top-ranked Florida Gators at McKethan Stadium.

It will be the first time that the Eagles have played an opponent ranked first in the country since a 10-0 loss to the Florida State Seminoles on Mar. 14, 2006 in Tallahassee, FL. The two-game series is also the first against the Gators since Feb. 17, 2002 in which Florida won 8-4. The first all-time meeting in the series came courtesy of a 9-8 Gator win on Jan. 31, 1997. Winthrop trails in the all-time series 6-3 with all nine meetings taking place in Gainesville, FL. The Eagles won their first meeting 4-3 on Mar. 9, 1999 and won two-in-a-row 11-7 and 14-5 on Mar. 20-21, 2001.

Winthrop enters the week with a 9-9 overall record and 2-1 mark in the Big South Conference. The Eagles defeated The Citadel Bulldogs 3-1 on Mar. 16, and then opened conference play last weekend taking two out of three in Rock Hill against the VMI Keydets. They are led offensively by senior Eddie Rohan with a .400 average, and is tied with redshirt junior Brett Thomas with 12 RBI. On the mound, sophomore Eric Ruth leads the Winthrop pitching staff with a 3-0 record, while junior Tyler Mizenko has a team-best 3.07 ERA. Senior Robert Lake has tossed a team-high 30.1 innings pitched, and sophomore Tommy Lawrence leads the squad with three saves.

Florida's record on the season is 18-2 and it opened up Southeastern Conference play last weekend with a three-game sweep against No. 5 LSU in Baton Rouge, LA. It is under the direction of head coach Kevin O'Sullivan, who is in his fourth season with the Gators. They are the defending SEC East Champions and made in an appearance last season in the College World Series.

Daniel Pigott leads Florida at the plate with a .431 average and 19 RBI, while Preston Tucker and Mike Zunino both have four home runs each. Brian Johnson's 4-0 record on the mound leads the team. Hudson Randall has a team-low 0.85 ERA in 31.2 innings pitched this season, while Anthony DeSclafani adds three saves to the staff.

The Eagles will head up to Lynchburg, VA after the series with the Gators for a three-game tilt with the Liberty Flames at Worthington Stadium. It will be the first Big South road series for Winthrop this season.
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