ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop baseball team will return home to The Winthrop Ballpark for the first time since Apr. 13 for a three-game Big South Conference series with the Charleston Southern Buccaneers.
The Eagles come into the weekend sporting an 18-20 record on the season and 8-7 in conference play. They are looking to snap a four-game losing streak that began with a three-game sweep by the Radford Highlanders and an 11-inning loss on Tuesday evening to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Eddie Rohan has led Winthrop in offense for a majority of the 2011 season, and continues to do so with a .371 average at the plate, two home runs and 27 RBI. His two homers are tied for the team-lead with Adam Gliebe, Patrick Gamblin and Matt Lobacz. Rohan also has 74 total bases on the season along with a .517 slugging percentage and .468 on-base percentage. Gamblin leads the Eagles with 11 stolen bases on the season in 13 attempts.
The Winthrop pitching staff is led by several players including all three weekend starters Tyler Mizenko, Robert Lake and Matteo D'Angelo. Mizenko has a team-low .256 opposing batting average, Lake a team-high 56.1 innings pitched and D'Angelo a 3.38 ERA. Eric Ruth tops the Eagles staff with five victories this season in 17 relief appearances.
Charleston Southern enters the three-game weekend series with a 20-21 overall record and 7-8 mark in the Big South Conference. They are under the direction of head coach Stuart Lake, who is currently in his third year with the program.
The Buccaneers are led offensively by Nick Chinners with a .346 average, while Derek Smith has a team-high eight home runs and 34 RBI. Brantley Meier is the biggest threat on the base paths as he is 14-for-19 in the stolen base category.
The pitching staff is led by Charlie McCready with a 1.36 ERA in 39.2 innings pitched. He is tied with Anthony Markham with a team-best four wins on the mound this season. Opponents are hitting just .218 against McCready, while Jesse Cadenhead has tossed 53.0 innings this season in nine starts and 10 appearances.
Winthrop leads the all-time series over Charleston Southern 48-19 and 26-5 when playing games in Rock Hill. The Eagles won the first-ever meeting between the two teams 13-9 at home on Apr. 12, 1991. Winthrop took two out of three from the Buccaneers last season in Charleston and picked up a three-game sweep in 2009 at The Winthrop Ballpark. The Eagles have won a series-best 14 games in a row against Charleston Southern from 2003-07.
