Box Score
LEXINGTON, VA--.Winthrop's baseball team saw its season come to a close on Thursday as the Eagles fell to No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina, 10-6, in the 2011 Royal Purple Big South Baseball Championship presented by Triangle Rent A Car at VMI's Gray-Minor Stadium.
With the loss the No. 4 seed Eagles' season ends with a 27-30 record while Coastal Carolina improves to 39-18 and will play the winner of No. 2 Liberty-No. 3 Charleston Southern on Friday afternoon. For the first time since 1998, Winthrop was eliminated from the tournament with two straight losses and failed to advance in the Conference tournament.
Winthrop scored first in the contest off Big South Conference Pitcher of the Year Max Rein when the Eagles struck for three runs in the top of the third inning. Rein's scoreless inning streak reached 24 frames before Winthrop scored Austen Barber's one-out double started the rally, and after Tyler Cook sacrificed him to third, he scored on Cam Walters' two-out infield single. Adam Gliebe followed with a two-run home run over the left field wall for the 3-0 advantage. The runs also ended Coastal's overall scoreless inning streak in the Big South Tournament at 17.2 innings, dating back to last year.
Winthrop's lead was short-lived, as the Chanticleers countered with six runs in the bottom of the third inning off Eagle starter Matt Pierpont for a 6-3 advantage. Coastal got back-to-back singles from Tucker Frawley and Hayes Orton and were moved into scoring position on Tripp Martin's sacrifice bunt. Scott Woodward was hit-by-pitch to load the bases, and Rich Witten walked to bring home Frawley. Big South Player of the Year Tommy La Stella grounded out to first to score Orton, and after Daniel Bowman walked to load the bases, Taylor Motter plated Witten and Woodward on a single to right. Winthrop brought in Wade Newman to replace Pierpont and he was greeted by Keith Hardwick's two-run single to complete the six-run rally.
Pierpont was a last-minute replacement on the mound for Winthrop as righthander Robert Lake had to be scratched about 10 minutes after beginning his pre-game warm-up. Lake had suffered a hamstring pull in last Friday's complete game win over Gardner-Webb and wasn't able to get loose in the bullpen.
Despite the disappointment of being sent home early from the tournament, first-year Winthrop head coach was proud of his team's effort this season and is looking to next year.
“Those big innings have hurt us all year long, and it got to us in the third inning today. We put up a three spot and they came back with six runs. That was a tough one. The kids competed all year long and never gave up. That's a lot to build on.”
The Chanticleers added two more runs in the fourth for an 8-3 lead. Winthrop responded with a run in the sixth after Matt Lobacz doubled home Gliebe, who reached on an infield single to open the inning. Coastal scored in the bottom half to go up 9-4, and then added a run in the seventh to extend its lead to six runs.
The Eagles trimmed the score to 10-6 in the top of the eighth after Lobacz singled with one out and scored on TJ Olesczuk's first career home run that cleared the wall in right center. Coastal brought in Ryan Connolly from the bullpen, and he kept Winthrop off the scoreboard for the final 1.1 innings.
Rein lasted 5.2 innings in picking up his ninth win of the season. He allowed four runs on six hits and struck out two. Pierpoint (4-4) suffered the loss after giving up six runs in 2.2 innings. Orton paced Coastal's offense with three hits, including a double and triple. He also scored three times. Woodward's run in the third was the 247th of his career, tying the all-time Big South Conference record that was established by Winthrop's Chris Carrara from 2004-07.
Gliebe, Lobacz and Eddie Rohan had two hits each for Winthrop.
It was the 20th meeting between the two teams in the Big South Tournament. Coastal lead the postseason series, 13-7, and has won the last four meetings. The Eagles did win two games in the three-game home series wtih Coastal just two weeks ago at The Winthrop Ballpark.
