Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC --  Max Vogel and Austen Barber both tripled to give the Eagles the lead in the 12^th as Winthrop collected the 3-2 win in extra innings at UNC Asheville Friday afternoon.
 
After the Bulldogs took an early 2-0 lead in the first, the arms took over.  Both teams were held scoreless for the next five innings.  However, in the seventh they Eagles rallied for two runs to tie the game up at 2-2.  But both teams found themselves in another scoring drought as the bullpens managed to shut down each offense forcing extra innings.  After four more innings of scoreless baseball, Winthrop was able string some hits together in the top of the 12^th.  Seniors Max Vogel and Austen Barber hammered their first career triples in the inning to give the Eagles the ultimate 3-2 lead.  Senior Eric Ruth returned to mound in the bottom half of the inning for his fifth inning of relief and closed out the game to collect his third win of the season and even the Big South series with UNC Asheville.
 
Winthrop's third extra-inning win of the season improved its record to 21-33 (8-15 BSC) on the season while the Bulldogs dropped to 16-35 and 4-18 in the Big South.  Winthrop, 3-3 in extra inning games this season, now eyes its third straight Big South Conference series win in the series and season finale against UNC Asheville.  The teams are slated for a 12:00 p.m. first pitch at McCormick Field (home of the Asheville Tourists – Class A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies).  Freshman right-hander Joey Strain (3-5) is expected to get the ball for the Eagles while the Bulldogs plan to counter with righty Dillon Tabar (2-4)
 
After Eagle's freshman starter Sam Kmiec retired the first two batters in the first, UNC Asheville strung together four straight singles with two outs to jump out an early lead.  RBI base hits from Justin Woods and Eli Miller put the Bulldogs on top 2-0 after one inning of play. 
 
Zeros were put up on the board for the next five innings until the Eagles were finally able to get to the Bulldogs starter Dean Roland in the top of the seventh.  With one out in the inning, Clay Altman shot a base hit up the middle and was ushered around to third on a single through the right side by senior Max Vogel and a throwing error by Roland on a failed pickoff attempt.  With runners on second and third, Eagle's shortstop Kyle Edwards came through with a single to left field scoring Altman from third and moving Vogel around to third.  Vogel then came in to score on a perfectly executed sacrifice squeeze bunt from Austen Barber knotting the game at 2-2. 
 
The teams carried the 2-2 tie into through the ninth to force extra innings.  With the game still tied in the 12^th, Vogel stepped to the plate and delivered a leadoff triple to right field.  Two batters later, Barber roped a triple of his own to right field scoring Vogel for the second time in the game and giving the Eagles a 3-2 lead in extra innings. Ruth returned to the mound in the bottom of the 12^th and retired the side to claim his third win of the season and wrap up the 3-2 win for the Eagles.
 
Freshman southpaw Sam Kmiec had a strong start on the mound for the Eagles scattering eight hits and two runs over 6.2 innings pitched while striking out two and walking no one.  Kmiec's strong start set the table for Ruth's longest outing of the season.  After allowing the two runs in the first, the Bulldogs were shut out in 11 consecutive innings.  Ruth (3-0) earned the win for the Eagles as he tossed 5.1 dominant innings of scoreless relief while fanning three and walking zero.  Ruth's scoreless outing lowered his ERA even farther to a minuscule 0.43 in 41.2 innings of relief this season. 
 
Bulldog's starter Dean Roland had as solid outing as well tossing 7.1 innings while allowing just two runs (one earned) and striking out four.  Billy Creighton (2-5) was tagged with the loss for the Bulldogs in 1.2 innings of relief. 
 
Altman had a strong day at the plate for the Eagles as he collected his fourth three-hit game of the season.  Chad Smith, Vogel, and Edwards each banged out a pair for hit as well while Barber's two RBI's were the difference in the game.