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Matt Lobacz Swings At Pitch

Baseball Falls Short In Series Opener To Radford 9-6

Gamblin Ties Season-High Hit Total With Four Against Highlanders

Box Score

RADFORD, VA – The Winthrop baseball team opened its three-game Big South Conference series against the Radford Highlanders on Friday evening with a 9-6 defeat at RU Baseball Stadium.

The Eagles fall to 18-17 on the season and 8-5 in conference play, while the Highlanders improve to 19-14 overall and 5-5 in the conference.

Eddie Butler (5-1) earned the series-opening win tossing 8.0 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits, two walks and 10 strikeouts. Tyler Mizenko (3-2) took the loss throwing 6.0 innings and gave up six runs on seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Jason Patten (1) earned the save pitching one-third of an inning.

“Our guys kept on battling today,” said head coach Tom Riginos. “We gave ourselves a chance to win there in the ninth and kept on building some momentum for tomorrow.”

Winthrop went up 1-0 over Radford in the top of the first inning when Chas Crane scored on a wild pitch by Butler with two outs. Crane reached on a one-out walk and moved to third after a single by Eddie Rohan and a fielder's choice by Matt Lobacz.

The Highlanders answered back in the bottom of the first plating three runs to take a 3-1 lead. Mizenko allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning by Matt Hillsinger and Jeff Kemp. Alex Guerra came up two batters later and drove in both Hillsinger and Kemp with a two-out two RBI double to right center field. Guerra then scored in the next at-bat on a RBI double to the right center field gap by Ryan Burgess.

Mizenko settled in after the first and retired the next 13 Radford hitters until the sixth when Kemp started the inning with a single to left field. He then stole second and third base, and came home on an RBI single by Guerra. Burgess followed with a two RBI double to center field that brought in Guerra and Matt Mack. The three runs in the sixth inning increased the Highlanders lead to 6-1.

The Eagles trimmed the deficit to 6-2 in the top of the seventh inning on a pinch-hit RBI single to center field by Brett Thomas. Patrick Gamblin scored on the single by Thomas as he reached on a two-out double down the left field line.

Radford responded with three runs in its half of the seventh and went back ahead of Winthrop 9-2. Kemp started the scoring with his RBI sacrifice fly, while Guerra and Cory Turner also added an RBI each in the inning.

Lobacz recorded his second home run of the season with his two-run shot in the eighth inning to make it a 9-4 contest. The Eagles would add two more runs in the top of the ninth on RBI's from Max Vogel and Cam Walters.

“You have to play well in all three phases of the game,” Riginos said. “At times our pitching was good, at times our hitting was good and so was our pitching, but you have to put all three together to win a game especially in the Big South Conference.”

Gamblin finished the opener with a perfect 4-for-4 performance at the plate to lead Winthrop offensively, while Lobacz drove in a team-high two RBI on the home run. Guerra posted a team-best three hits and four RBI for the Highlanders.

The Eagles will resume their three-game series against Radford with game two on Saturday, Apr. 16. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
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