ROCK HILL, SC -- The Winthrop baseball team travels to Johnson City, TN to take on East Tennessee State in a mid-week game starting at 7:00 p.m. at the new Thomas Stadium. 
 
The Eagles look to continue the winning trend as they are coming off a strong 5-2 victory over Penn on Sunday.  The bats came alive for the Eagles in the game as they were able to bang out 13 hits including three hits from both Cody Dolan and Jace Whitley.  Starting pitcher Tyler Klitsch (1-2) controlled of the Quaker offense limiting them to two runs (unearned) over 5.2 innings.  Freshman Sam Kmiec came in out of the bullpen in relief of Klitsch for his team-leading ninth appearance and closed out the game shutting out Penn in 3.1 innings of work en route to his first career save.
 
The win Sunday snapped Winthrop's six game losing skid and improved their record to 4-11 this season.
 
The Eagles take the road to East Tennessee State (9-3) for the first time program history in the first of two games this season.  The Buccaneers travel to Rock Hill next week to take the on the Eagles next Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
 
Winthrop is 5-0 all-time against ETSU with all the wins coming at home for the Eagles.  The last win came in 2009 when Winthrop toppled ETSU 8-4. 
 
ETSU is out to a strong start this season posting an impressive 9-2 record at home.  The Buccaneers are led at the plate by Clinton Freeman (.444 avg.), Dylan Tritsch (.316 avg.), and Chris Riopedre (.302 avg).  Freeman maintains a noteworthy 1.089 slugging percentage with 14 extra-base hits on the season including six home runs. As a team, ETSU is hitting a respectable .285 and averaging 6.5 runs per game.
 
Kerry Doane (3-0) is off to a great start this season for ETSU on the mound.  Doane has thrown three complete games out of the four games he has started this year including two complete game shutouts.  The Buccaneers have gotten strong support out of the bullpen as well by Logan Rice (0-0), Clinton Freeman (3-0), and Will Chesney (1-0). 
 
The Eagles look to carry over a strong offensive performance from Sunday to Johnson City.  Clay Altman is coming off a big week at the plate going 8 for 16 with an RBI.  Cody Dolan had a strong week as well as he went 8 for 17 at the plate improving his batting average to a team leading .415.  TJ Olesczuk continues to improve offensively as the season has progresses.  In the month of March, Olesczuk is hitting .458 with five RBI's including a four hit performance last Friday against Penn.
 
The consistency of the Winthrop bullpen has been one of the best assets of the team so far this season.  Winthrop relievers have managed to strand 71% (32 of 45) of inherited runners this season.  The bullpen has combined for a 3.45 ERA on the season with 63 strike outs over 61 innings pitched.  Mitchell Knox, Sam Kmiec, Josh Strong, Jared Keels, and Eric Ruth have led the Eagles out of the bullpen this season.
 
The expected starting pitching matchup for Tuesday is:
 
RHP Joey Strain (0-2) vs. LHP Josh Jacques (0-1)
 
The game can be heard on the Winthrop Sports Network via www.winthropeagles.com