Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC --  Lobacz, Wallace, and Altman all homered Tuesday night to power the Eagles to a 5-2 victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem.
 
The Eagles took advantage of a big four run second inning highlighted by Matt Lobacz's solo home run to lead off the inning and Stephen Wallace's two-run blast over the left field fence.  Clay Altman joined the home run party in fourth when he led off the inning with a solo blast over the left field fence.  Sophomore reliever Josh Strong came on in the fifth inning to protect the Eagles' three run lead.  Strong dealt a dominant 3.2 innings of shutout baseball while holding the Demon Deacons to just one hit.  Closer Eric Ruth hammered down his 10^th save of the season striking out the side in the ninth and securing the 5-2 win for the Eagles.
 
Winthrop's second straight win splits the season series with Wake Forest and improves the Eagles to 20-32 on the season while Wake Forest drops to 28-25.  The Eagles look to continue their solid play as they wrap up regular season play with a Big South series at UNC Asheville.  Games are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, 3:00 p.m. on Friday, and 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.  Saturday's game will be held at McCormick Field (home of the Asheville Tourists – Class A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies).
 
Winthrop's big inning came in second inning as the Eagles jumped on Wake's starter Mark McCoy (0-1) for four runs.  Senior captain Lobacz got the rally started with a lead off solo shot (3^rd home run of the season) over the right field fence.  Altman followed with a single to center setting the table for Wallace.  Wallace then connected with a 2-0 pitch, sending it soaring over the left field fence for his second home run in as many games (3^rd of the season).  The Eagles didn't stop there, as freshman Kyle Edwards followed with a walk and was moved around to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Austen Barber and a ground out from Michael Patrick.  Leighton Daniels capped off the inning with a two-out single up the middle scoring Edwards from third giving the Eagles an early 4-0 advantage.
 
The Demon Deacons managed to get a run back with two outs in the third.  Evan Stephens poked a single through the middle of the infield off of Eagle's starter Tyler Klitsch (3-9) and promptly stole second base.  After Mitchell Knox came in for relief of Klitsch, Grant Shambley deliver an RBI single to right field scoring Stephens and cutting the deficit to 4-1.
 
The teams traded runs in the fourth as Altman led off the Eagle's half off the inning with a towering home run (first of his collegiate career) to left field.  The Demon Deacons followed with another two-out run in the bottom half of the inning on Brett Armour's RBI single to right center scoring Conor Keniry from second base making it a 5-2 Eagles lead.
 
Josh Strong, native of Orlando, Florida, was called upon in the fifth in relief of Stephen Wallace and managed to shut down the Wake Forest offense.  Strong managed to hold the Demon Deacons scoreless in 3.2 innings of one-hit relief.  He was masterful in maneuvering through a bases-loaded jam in the pivotal fifth inning.  Strong's dominate performance set the table for the Eagle's senior closer Eric Ruth who struck out the side in the ninth giving him his 10^th save of the season and hammering down the 5-2 win for the Eagles. 
 
Winthrop head Tom Riginos was happy with the effort on the mound in Tuesday night's win.  “Everything started with Tyler Klitsch, then Josh Strong came in and did his thing getting out of trouble and Ruthy did his job and got his tenth save of the year” stated Riginos after the game.  “From an offensive standpoint we had three home runs.  The guys swung the bat and had some good approaches especially in that second inning.”
 
Daniels, Altman, and Edwards each had a pair of hits on the night for the Eagles.  The three home runs from Winthrop are the most in a game for the Eagles since the 2010 season.  Meanwhile, Cody Dolan continues to swing a hot bat as he extended his reached base streak to 16 games and his hitting streak to nine games.