Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ROCK HILL, SC --  The Winthrop baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader with Charleston Southern 6-3 and 3-1 in the final home stand of the season to capture its first Big South series win of the season.
 
Charleston Southern's two-out rally in the fifth lifted the Buccaneers past the Eagles in game one as the Bucs tallied three runs on five hits in the inning en route to a 6-3 victory.  However, the Eagles rebounded well in game two as freshman starter Sam Kmiec (3-6) pitched 7.2 strong innings holding the Bucs to just one run while senior closer Eric Ruth collected his eighth save of the season in 1.1 innings of scoreless relief hammering down the 3-1 for the Eagles and wrapped up Winthrop's first Big South series win at home since 2011 (Gardner-Webb, May 19-21,2011).
 
Saturday's twinbill split with Charleston Southern brings Winthrop to 17-31 (5-13 Big South) on the season while the Buccaneers move to 18-27 including 8-10 in the Big South.  Winthrop's 17 wins this season matches the team's win total for a year ago.  The Eagles look to continue the winning trend when they travel to North Carolina A & T on Wednesday for a 6:00 p.m. ballgame. 
 
The Buccaneers were first to get on the board in game one with a two out rally in the first inning.  After the first two batters of the inning were retired, the Bucs singled, walked, and were hit by a pitch to load the bases for Chase Shelton.  Shelton roped the first pitch he saw from Eagles' freshman starter Joey Strain (3-5) to center field scoring Zack Hagaman and Alex Tomasovich to give CSU an early 2-0 lead. 
 
The Eagles cut the lead in half in the third when Leighton Daniels slapped a single through the left side bringing around Austen Barber to score from second.  However, the Bucs got the run back in the top of the fourth on Brian Welch's double to the right field corner scoring Robbie Streett all the way from first. 
 
The Buccaneers' big inning came in the fifth as CSU hitters strung together five straight singles, plating three runs all with two outs to put them up 6-1.  Clay Altman's two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth cut the deficit to 6-3.  However, Tory Schroff's (6-2) strong eight inning start to set the table for Austin Weekley who wrapped up the game in the ninth with his seventh save of the season securing the 6-3 win for CSU in game one.
 
Winthrop regrouped and gave the seniors a proper farewell in their final game at The Winthrop Ballpark in game two of the Big South doubleheader.  As they did in the first two games of the series, Charleston Southern got on the board first in the second inning on Shelton's sacrifice fly scoring Hagaman to give the Buccaneers an early 1-0 lead.
 
Winthrop's designated hitter Altman led off the Eagles' half of the second inning with a double to the left center gap and was promptly moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt from Chad Smith.  The next batter, senior Max Vogel, slapped a ball to the right side of the infield allowing Altman to race in from third and tie the game at 1-1. 
 
The Eagles took their first lead of the day in the bottom of the fourth on Kyle Edwards' RBI ground out scoring Smith from third (who singled earlier in the inning) to put Winthrop up 2-1.  Winthrop added to its lead in the fifth on Cody Dolan's RBI single through the right side scoring Daniels and giving the Eagles a 3-1 advantage.
 
After allowing the run early in the game, Eagles' starter Kmiec  settled in nicely as he held the Bucs scoreless in his final 5.1 innings of work.  The Buccaneers threatened in the eighth with runners on second and third with no outs, however, Kmiec fanned back-to-back batters setting the table for Ruth who closed out the inning leaving the runners stranded.  Ruth went on to pitch a scoreless ninth wrapping up his eighth save of the season and locking up the 3-1 win for the Eagles on Senior Day.

Winthrop head coach Tom Riginos was very happy with the freshman's effort on the mound in game two.  "Sam Kmiec pitched unbelievable tonight.  Probably one of his best outings of the year,"  stated Riginos.  "The guys really played well today.  They really stepped up."
 
 
Daniels led the way offensively for the Eagles on Saturday with a pair of hits in each game including a run scored.  Altman had a nice day at the plate as well with two hits and a pair of RBI's in game one followed by a hit and a run scored in the nightcap.  With a hit in each game, Dolan extends his reached base streak to 12 games (two shy of his season high).