ROCK HILL, SC -- The Winthrop baseball team is set to host Charleston Southern in a Big South weekend series at The Winthrop Ballpark in the final home stand for the Eagles this season.
Winthrop, coming off a pair of non-conference losses this week, looks to get back into winning ways in the final series at home this season against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers. Winthrop traveled to Greenville, SC on Tuesday for a rematch with Wofford at Fluor Field (home of the Greenville Drive). The Terriers erupted in the sixth inning for four runs to lead Wofford to a 7-3 win over the Eagles. The Eagles then moved across town for matchup with at Furman on Wednesday. Furman's Taylor Johnson and Greg Harrison both went deep for the Paladins, leading them to a 6-1 win over Winthrop.
Winthrop, 15-30 on the season and 3-12 in the Big South, now looks to Charleston Southern. The Buccaneers are 17-25 this season including 7-8 in Big South play. The teams will hit the field on Friday for a 7:15 p.m. ballgame that will be broadcast on ESPN3. Game two of the weekend series is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. and the series wraps up on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Winthrop's ten seniors will be recognized at Sunday's game for Senior Day at The Winthrop Ballpark.
The Eagles are 50-24 all-time against the Buccaneers including 24-6 when playing in Rock Hill. Additionally, Charleston Southern is just 2-16 on the road this season. Over the past three seasons, Winthrop is 4-6 against CSU including last season when the Bucs took two of three in Charleston. The Eagles have outscored CSU 626 to 372 in 74 meetings.
Charleston Southern is led offensive by Bobby Ison (.371 avg.), Zack Hagaman (.344 avg.), and Alex Tomasovich (.338 avg.). As a team the Bucs are hitting .287 with 15 total home runs while scoring five runs per game. The Eagles will see CSU's top three hurlers on the mound over the weekend. Ryan Gunther (5-4, 3.92 ERA), Tory Schroff (5-2, 2.98 ERA), and Kevin Buran (2-7, 3.95 ERA) have been the go-to starters for the Buccaneers this season. As a staff, CSU pitchers hold a 4.63 ERA while holding opposing hitter to a .273 batting average a striking out 7.36 batters per nine innings.
Winthrop heads into the series swinging the bat at a .239 clip as a team while scoring 3.6 runs per game. Junior outfielder Cody Dolan leads the way at the plate with a .312 batting average, 25 runs scored and three homeruns for the Eagles. Dolan has reached base safely in 39 of 41 games that he started this season including nine straight games heading into the weekend. The Eagle pitching staff carries a 4.02 ERA while holding teams to a .272 average collectively. The bullpen is anchored by senior captain
Eric Ruth who lowered his ERA to 0.31 with a scoreless eighth inning against Furman. Ruth averages 1.48 strikeouts per inning pitched this season.
The expected pitching matchups for the weekend are:
5/3 Friday 7:15 p.m. RHP
Matt Pierpont (3-4) vs. RHP Ryan Gunther (5-4)
5/4 Saturday 4:00 p.m. TBD vs. LHP Tory Schroff (5-2)
5/5 Sunday 1:00 p.m. LHP Sam Kmiec (2-6) vs. RHP Kevin Buran (2-7)
The weekend series can be followed on the Winthrop Sports Network via
www.winthropeagles.com. Friday night's game will also be broadcast on ESPN3.
