Box Score Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop baseball team managed just one hit on Friday evening as it was defeated by the ninth-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 5-0 in front of 1,321 fans at The Winthrop Ballpark on day one of the Rock Hill Coca-Cola Classic. It was also the 2012 season opener for the Eagles.
Winthrop falls to 0-1 on the season, while the Yellow Jackets improved to 1-1 overall. Georgia Tech opened the Rock Hill Coca-Cola Classic by falling 5-0 to the Kent State Golden Flashes.
Matt Grimes (1-0) earned the win by pitching 7.0 scoreless innings and gave up the lone Eagle hit on no walks and seven strikeouts.
Matt Pierpont (0-1) took the loss giving up two runs (both earned) on four hits, one walk and six strikeouts.
“The positive to take from tonight was our pitching,” said head coach
Tom Riginos. “Matt competed, and that's what you're going to get out of him. If we make a few plays behind him, it may have been a different game.”
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Pierpont on an RBI single by Paul Kronenfeld and Kyle Wren scoring on a wild pitch. Wren led off the game for Georgia Tech with a double to right field and then stole third base.
After the first inning Pierpont settled in and held the Yellow Jackets scoreless until he was removed with one out in the sixth inning. He did not allow a hit after the first inning and sat down eight batters in a row at one point.
Georgia Tech took advantage of three of Winthrop's five errors on the evening to score three runs in the seventh and eighth innings to extend its lead to 5-0. The Yellow Jackets scored one run in the seventh on Jake Davies' RBI single to center field, and Mitch Earnest plated both runs in the eighth with his two RBI single down the left field line.
“The whole key is when you're playing a team like Georgia Tech you can't give them five extra outs,” said Riginos. “That really hurt us.”
Patrick McLendon recorded the only hit for the Eagles in their season opener, which came in the bottom of the third inning in his first collegiate at-bat. Davies and Kronenfeld tallied two hits each for Georgia Tech, while Earnest had a team-high two RBI.
“It was a great atmosphere tonight,” Riginos said. “The kids enjoyed it, and I thought they were ready to play. We just have to clean up the defense a little bit and put the bat on the ball a little bit better. If we can pitch like we did tonight, I think at the end of the year we are all going to be happy with the body of work.”
Winthrop will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 18 as it hosts Kent State at 2:45 p.m. Day two of the Rock Hill Coca-Cola Classic has been adjusted due to potential rain in the Rock Hill area on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets and Golden Flashes will play each other in the first game of the day at 12 p.m.
