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BOILING SPRINGS, NC— Winthrop hit seven home runs, including two by Kathryn Eberlin and Kristy Noble to help Winthrop to a doubleheader sweep of Gardner-Webb, Saturday afternoon at Varsity Field.

Winthrop captured game one 6-0 behind three home runs and then hit four home runs in a 9-4 extra innings. Eberlin blasted a three-run home run in the top of the eighth followed by a solo home run by Alex White for insurance.

The sweep puts Winthrop at 19-17 overall and 7-5 in the Big South while Gardner-Webb falls to 4-24 overall and 1-11 in the league. The two teams will wrap-up the series with a single game on Sunday at 2 p.m.

“It was a great day for us,” said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. “I thought we got good pitching today with Sutton (Watson) in the first game and Chelsey (Schoenfeldt) did a great job in relief in game two. In the second game in the 4^th inning we started to get settled and fought our way back into the game. We executed today and did the things we've been practicing. I'm pleased with how we played today.”

The Eagles opened up the day with a 6-0 victory in game one. Winthrop snagged the lead in the top of the first courtesy of a fielding error by the Runnin' Bulldogs. McKenzi Corn singled to center with two outs and moved to second when Schoenfeldt was hit-by-a-pitch. Eberlin stepped up and hit a fly ball to left that was dropped, allowing Corn to cross the plate for the run

Kelsey Ritter made it 2-0 in favor of the Eagles as she homered for the second straight game, a solo shot to lead off the second inning. The Eagles used the long ball to gain a 5-0 lead as Kristy Noble led off the fifth inning with a solo home run. Corn reached base with a single and then two batters later Eberlin belted a home run down the left field line for a 5-0 lead.

Corn picked up her fourth hit of the game as she led off the 7^th with a double to left center and scored on an RBI single by Schoenfeldt. It was the 119^th career RBI for Schoenfeldt, which puts her all alone in fifth place on the Eagles all-time list.

Watson's shutout bid was nearly spoiled in the second and seventh innings as the Runnin' Bulldogs loaded the bases. However, Watson was able to bear down and get the outs necessary as she earned her third shutout of the season. She allowed four hits and issued six walks while striking out a career-high 10 to improve to 12-9 on the year.

In addition to Corn's four hits, she also tied her career-best of three runs in a game.

Winthrop fell behind early in game two as the Runnin' Bulldogs scored in the first three innings and led 4-0 after three innings thanks to a two-run home run by Morgan Baker. That home run came in the third after she had given Gardner-Webb a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI double to left center.

Schoenfeldt belted a solo shot with one out in the top of the fourth to get the Eagles on the scoreboard. It was her 11^th of the season, tying her for the school's single-season record of 11 set by Janiva Willis and Kjersti Johnson in 2004.

The Eagles tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the fifth. Ritter led the inning off with a walk and was moved to second by Melanie Andrea on a sacrifice. Sara Allen flied out to left for the second out of the inning but Teja Durante came through with a double to right. That scored Ritter from second and then Noble followed Durante with a two-run shot down the left field line for her second home run of the day for her sixth on the season and 12^th career homer.

After going 4-for-4 in the first game of the doubleheader, Corn walked to reach base for the 13^th consecutive game while Schoenfeldt's home run in the 4^th gave her 13 straight games reaching base as well.

Eberlin's home run in the second game gave her 13 in her career, which is one shy of the school's all-time Top 10 list. She finished with five RBI on the day while Noble finished with three RBI. Noble now has a seven-game hitting streak.

Schoenfeldt got the win in game two as she tossed 5.2 innings of relief allowing no runs on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts.