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ROCK HILL, SC--The Winthrop baseball team split a twinbill at The Winthrop Ballpark on Saturday on the second day of the 2014 Coca-Cola Classic as the Eagles defeated Coppin State 7-4 in the opener before falling in a 15-inning marathon to Kent State, 9-4.

Winthrop's record now stands at 3-3 on the year while Coppin State drops to 0-2 and Kent State improves to 4-2. The three teams will play again on Sunday with Coppin State taking on Kent State at 11:00 a.m. followed by a Winthrop and Coppin State matchup at 3:00 p.m


Game 1-Winthrop 7, Coppin State 4

Sophomore right-hander Joey Strain improved his record to 2-0 as he pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out three Coppin State hitters, and TJ Olesczuk went 3 for 4 at the plate while driving home two runs in the win.

Leighton Daniels and Babe Thomas each had two RBI as well while Daniels collected two hits, including the two-run double.

Winthrop got on the board in the first inning with the help of a fielding error and a RBI double by Olesczuk. With two out, Thomas was hit by a pitch from Coppin State starter Will Grebenstein. He stole second and then scored on Oleszcuk's two-base hit.to center field.

The Eagles added three more runs in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. Brad Kaczka and Kyle Edwards reached on back-to-back walks and scored on a double to left center by Daniels. Daniels stole third and then scored the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Thomas.

Coppin State, which was blanked 5-0 on Friday by Kent State, finally got on the board for the first time in the tournament with a run in the fourth inning. John Kraft led off the inning with a triple to right center and scored on a ground out to second.

Winthrop tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth off Coppin reliever Frank Newborn. Edwards led off the frame with a single, but was erased at second on a fielders choice by Kaczka. Daniels followed with a single through the left side to put runners on first and second. Thomas then drove home Kaczka from second with a single. Daniels and Thomas moved up a base into scoring position on a balk by Newborn. Daniels came in to score the second run of the inning on a squeeze bunt by Olesczuk and Thomas made it a 7-1 game when he scored from third on a wild pitch.

Coppin State gave Winthrop reliever Austin Lawrence a rude welcome by getting to him for three runs in the eighth inning. John Walls greeted Lawrence with a leadoff single and moved to third when David Hamlett drew a walk. Kraft then cleared the bases with his second triple of the game. Eagle head coach Tom Riginos then brought in Zac Sightler who recorded two strike outs sandwiched around a ground ball out by Alejandro Hernandez that scored Kraft with the third run of the inning.

The Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the inning when John Menken drew a bases loaded walk off of CSU's fourth reliever Jhar Devlime that scored Thomas who had reached on a fielders choice.

Winthrop, which stole only 23 bases the entire 2013 season, were aggressive on the base paths and swiped five bases in six stolen base attempts to give them seven in its first five games.

Grebenstein took the loss as he gave up four runs on three hits in five innings.

Game 2-- Kent State 9, Winthrop 4 (15 innings)

Junior Brad Kaczka went 3-7 and made two key defensive plays in extra innings to keep the score even but it wasn't enough as Kent State scored five runs in the 15th inning to claim the second game of Winthrop's doubleheader ,9-5.

After both teams were blanked in the first two innings, the game picked up in the third with Kent State going up 1-0. Jacob Neuschaefer singled, stole second and then advanced to third on a throwing error where he scored off of Sawyer Polen's groundout to the shortstop.

Winthrop answered right back with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the inning. Kyle Edwards started off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a double by Kaczka Leighton Daniels then hit a single to center field to drive home both runners. Daniels then advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a base hit by Babe Thomas. to give Winthrop a 3-1 lead.

Kent State reclaimed the lead with three runs in the sixth on four hits off Eagle starting pitcher Josh Strong to bring the score to 4-3. Freshman Zach Cook came on in relief to get the Eagles out of further trouble. The Winthrop Bull[pen held the Golden Flashes in check over the next eight innings before Kent State erupted for the five runs in the 15th.

Winthrop rallied in the bottom of the ninth to score the tying run and had the winning run cut down at the plate. Luke Maldanado, who came in as a pinch runner for Clay Altman who led off the inning with a single, scored the tying run after Kent State committed a throwing error. Maldonado had reached second after Edwards slapped a base hit. Kaczka followed with another hit that led to the throwing error allowing the Eagles to tie the game. Edwards also tried to score on the play but was tagged out at home for the third out.

Despite some impressive defensive plays from the Eagles, Kent State took the game in the fifteenth inning scoring five runs off Eagle reliever Jason Driver. Driver took the loss for Winthrop, leveling his record to 1-1 as he allowed all five runs on five hits in the inning after blanking the Golden Flashes for the previous three innings.. Kent State's Dan Kopcak got his first win of the season, giving up no runs on two hits.

The 2014 Coca Cola Classic will conclude on Sunday with Coppin State taking on Kent State at 11:00 a.m. followed by a Winthrop and Coppin State matchup at 3:00 p.m