Box Score
GREENVILLE, SC – The Winthrop baseball team stranded 14 runners on base Tuesday night as it fell to the Furman Paladins 4-3 at Latham Baseball Stadium in non-conference action.
The Eagles fall to 17-16 on the season, while the Paladins even their record up at 17-17.
Drake Browne (2-1) picked up the win in relief tossing 2.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Tommy Lawrence (1-3) took the loss surrendering two runs (one earned) on four hits, no walks and one strikeout in 3.0 innings of work. Dylan Cole (8) earned the save throwing a scoreless ninth inning and striking out one batter.
“Tonight was a game of missed opportunities,” said head coach Tom Riginos. “Stranding 14 guys on base was one of the big problems. It wasn't a bad game in that we got 12 hits, but only scored four runs. What it comes down to is the situational hitting needs to be a little bit better for us to be successful.”
After a scoreless 3.2 innings of play, Furman struck first with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a RBI single to center field by Paul Nitto. Taylor Johnson, who came home on the hit by Nitto, started the inning for the Paladins with a double off the left field wall against Winthrop starter Mitchell Knox and moved to third on a groundout by Alex Abrams to second base. The base hit by Nitto came off Justin Hopper, who came on in relief of Knox with one out in the inning.
The Eagles responded with two runs of their own with two outs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead. TJ Olesczuk brought in the first run of the inning with his RBI single to center field driving in Chas Crane, and would later score on a single to left field by Patrick Gamblin. Crane led off the Winthrop fifth inning with a single to left field and moved to second on a wild pitch by Furman starter Nate Smith.
The Paladins tied the contest up at 2-2 in the sixth inning on an RBI sacrifice fly to right field by Nitto for the first out of the inning. Johnson scored on the sacrifice fly by Nitto after leading off the inning with a walk, and moved over to third on a single by Alex Abrams and a sacrifice bunt by Hunter Burton.
Furman regained the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh on Aaron Thompkins' RBI single to left field with one out. Rob Fondu came home on the base hit by Thompkins after he started the inning with a double to left center field and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Will Owens.
Winthrop plated a run in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game back up at 3-3 on an RBI double by Crane, but the Paladins answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the eighth to re-take the lead 4-3. The one run by Furman in the eighth came on a RBI sacrifice fly to right field by Will Muzika that scored Alex Abrams.
Crane and Olesczuk led the Eagles offensively with three hits and one RBI each. Gamblin also drove in a run. Abrams and Fondu posted two hits apiece for the Paladins, while Nitto drove in a team-high two RBI.
Winthrop will be back in action on Wednesday, Apr. 13 at 6 p.m. as it will host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at The Winthrop Ballpark.
