Box Score Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop baseball team suffered a 7-1 defeat to the Charlotte 49ers on Tuesday evening at The Winthrop Ballpark in a midweek non-conference matchup.
The Eagles fall to 0-8 on the season, while the 49ers improve to 6-2 overall.
Joe Yermal (1-1) earned the win tossing 5.0 innings giving up one run on three hits, no walks and four strikeouts.
Josh Strong (0-1) took the loss allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits, two walks and no strikeouts in 2.0 innings of work. Strong was making his first career start for Winthrop, while reliever
Tyler Klitsch set new career-highs in innings pitched (4.1) and strikeouts (5) against Charlotte.
The 49ers scored four runs in the first three innings to take a 4-0 lead over the Eagles heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. Charlotte plated two runs in the first, and one each in the second and third innings. Shane Basen and Ross Steedley both recorded an RBI double with two outs in the first, while Justin Roland scored on a passed ball in the second and Shane Brown came home on a wild pitch in the third.
Winthrop trimmed its deficit to 4-1 in its half of the fifth inning on
Patrick Gamblin's RBI sacrifice fly to center field scoring
Jason Driver. Driver led off the fifth with his first career hit as an Eagle, a single, to center field, and went to third on a hit-and-run single by
Jace Whitley to right field.
Charlotte responded with three runs over the final two innings, two in the eighth and one in the ninth, to extend its lead to 7-1. Miguel Rodriquez and JJ Elseser each recorded an RBI single in the top of the eighth, while Brown scored on a wild pitch after Steedley struck out swinging.
Six different Eagle hitters had one hit each in the contest, while Gamblin had the lone RBI. Elseser, Basen and Roland each posted two hits to lead the 49ers offensively, and four different players drove in one run apiece.
Winthrop will be back in action on Thursday, Mar. 1 at 7 p.m. when it faces the Northern Illinois Huskies on day one of the 2012 Surprise Coca-Cola Classic. The four-day event will be played at Surprise Stadium, which is the spring training facility of the MLB's Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals.
