Notre Dame Box Score
Manhattan Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop baseball team opened its play in the 2011 Coca-Cola Classic with victories of 4-2 and 10-3 over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Manhattan Jaspers on Friday at The Winthrop Ballpark.
The Eagles improve to 4-5 on the season with the two victories. The Fighting Irish fall to 3-5 and the Jaspers to 2-4 with the losses.
In the doubleheader opener on Friday, Tyler Mizenko (2-0) tossed a career-high 8.0 innings against Notre Dame and surrendered two runs on five hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Tommy Lawrence (1) earned the save throwing a scoreless one inning of relief on no hits and no walks. Cole Johnson (1-2) took the loss in game one allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits, no walks and five strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work.
“I thought we played extremely good defense today and got great starting pitching,” said head coach Tom Riginos. “In the first game Tyler Mizenko went out there and just dominated. He gave us a chance to win and we also swung the bats well.”
The Fighting Irish jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI triple to right field by Charlie Markson to start things off and later scoring on an RBI groundout by Greg Sherry.
Winthrop tied the contest at 2-2 in its half of the fourth on a two-out two RBI double to left field by TJ Olesczuk plating Eddie Rohan and Matt Lobacz. The Eagles would take the lead for good in the sixth inning on an RBI single to right field by Lobacz and Patrick Gamblin coming home after Cam Walters reached on a fielding error by Frank De Sico at second base.
Gamblin recorded a team-high three hits in the opener, while Olesczuk drove in two runs. Markson posted three hits for Notre Dame, and along with Sherry, had one RBI.
Eric Ruth (1-0) got the win in game two on Friday in relief pitching 3.0 scoreless innings and gave up just two walks and two strikeouts. Peter Cappiello (0-1) took the loss hurling two-thirds of an inning and allowed one run on no hits, no walks and two strikeouts. Winthrop starter Robert Lake threw 6.0 innings in game two giving up three runs on eight hits, one walk and five strikeouts.
“Robert Lake kept us in the second game and we scored a couple of late runs,” Riginos said. “It was good situational hitting.”
The Eagles fell behind to Manhattan 3-0 heading into the fifth inning after the Jaspers scored a run each in the first, fourth and fifth innings. Anthony Vega brought home Mark Onorati with his RBI groundout in the first inning, and Nick Camastro singled home Austin Sheffield in the fourth. Onorati led things off for Manhattan in the top of the fifth with his second homer of the season.
After that Winthrop would hold the Jaspers scoreless as it drove home 10 unanswered runs including seven combined in the seventh and eighth innings.
The Eagles cut the deficit to 3-1 in the fifth inning when Walters brought in Olesczuk with an RBI groundout, and in the sixth inning Gamblin brought in the first run with his RBI sacrifice fly to right field and Matt Pierpont gave Winthrop the lead for good with an RBI double down the left field line. The Eagles seventh inning was highlighted by a pinch-hit two RBI single by Brett Thomas, while Olesczuk and Chas Crane recorded an RBI each. Crane would add another RBI single in the eighth inning, and Lobacz and Tyler Cook both drew bases loaded walks.
Crane, Rohan and Olesczuk all recorded two hits each in the doubleheader finale, and Crane and Thomas had two RBI apiece. Onorati and Sheffield led Manhattan offensively with 2-for-4 performances, while Onorati, Vega and Camastro all had one RBI.
Winthrop will wrap up Coca-Cola play on Saturday, Mar. 5 as it will host the Fighting Irish and Jaspers in the second and third games of the day. Notre Dame and Manhattan will play the first game on Saturday beginning at 10:30 a.m., with the Eagles playing the next two games 45 minutes after the conclusion of the previous contest.
