ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop baseball team will kick off the 2013 season this weekend as the Eagles will host Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in a three-game series at The Winthrop Ballpark beginning on Friday afternoon.
. 
Friday's season opener which is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. marks the first-ever meeting between these two schools on the diamond. Both teams begin the season looking to improve on last year's final records.  Winthrop is coming off a 17-35 year while UMES struggled to a 14-39 record in 2012, but managed to finish third in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship tournament.
 
Winthrop head coach Tom Riginos is excited about the challenge ahead for this year's  team and is looking forward to the weekend and seeing how his team competes against outside competition. “They (UMES) are going to be a very athletic, well-coached team and we look forward to getting out there and competing,” he said.  UMES is coached by former major leaguer Pedro Swann who is beginning his first season at the helm.
 
Riginos will be using the last two days of practice to make his final evaluations  before he sets the starting line-up for the opener.  The Eagles return all three weekend starters from last year as senior right handers Tyler Klitsch, Eric Ruth and Matt Pierpont are expected to take the mound this weekend.   
 
The Eagles are looking to carry over the excitement created from last weekend's First Pitch Dinner onto the field on Friday.  “This is an exciting time of the year and we are carrying a lot of momentum into this season,” said Riginos.
 
Following the Friday opener, Winthrop and UMES will meet on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. game before wrapping up the series with a 1:00 p.m. game on Sunday.  The ticket window at The Winthrop Ballpark opens one hour before game time.