ROCK HILL, SC-- Coming off a double-header sweep at the hands of 26th-ranked Georgia Tech, Winthrop looks to rebound on Saturday as it hosts Akron in a double-header beginning at 10 a.m. at Terry Field. The first game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m., but was changed because of rain that is expected in the Rock Hill area during the afternoon.
Winthrop enters the game with a 7-20 overall record and a 3-5 record at home as it has dropped eight of its last nine games. Akron is coming off a 2-1 loss to Butler and enters with a 12-8 record, having won six of the last eight games.
The Eagles will welcome a daylight twin-bill as six of their seven wins this season have come under the sun. The youthful Eagles are off to one of the slowest starts in recent history, but have been competitive in several of the games this year as 11 of the 28 games have been decided by two runs or less and 14 of 28 by three runs or less.
One of the strengths of the team this season has been holding onto leads they build in the first four innings as the team is 6-2 when leading after four innings and a perfect 4-0 when leading after the fifth and sixth innings.
Senior Veronica Berrie now leads the team with a .308 batting average, but the team overall average is down to .227. Sophomore Chelsey Schoenfeldt and senior Brittany Stoudemire are the only other two hitters batting .300 or better at .303 and .300 respectively.
Schoenfeldt and senior Ashleigh Jackson have been the pitching rotation for all but one game in the month of March. Schoenfeldt is 2-6 with a 3.66 earned run average while Jackson is 2-7 with a 4.03 ERA.
The Zips bring in a very explosive offense as the team is batting .323 and led by three different players batting .400 or more. Senior third baseman Alex Feltes leads the team with a .456 average and has seven doubles, two home runs and is third on the team with 13 RBI. Junior Alex Helfrich has 14 starts in 20 games played this year and is batting .421 with 10 runs. Senior Sarah Earley is hitting .404 with 13 runs scored. Earley and Helfrich each have 14 stolen bases on the year. Akron's rotation has fluctuated between five pitchers all season, but the majority of the starts have come from Heather Bauer and Alex Riedeman. Bauer is a 5-4 righty with a 5-4 record and 2.05 ERA with 38 strikeouts and 11 walks in 51.1 innings. Riedeman is 4-2 with a 3.74 ERA and 27 strikeouts to 10 walks in 39.1 innings.
During the six wins in eight games stretch, Akron has outscored its opponents 41-18 that includes being shutout against Eastern Illinois.
