www.winthropphotos.com
ROCK HILL, SC- The Winthrop baseball team will try to break a three game losing streak as it heads to Nashville for a three game weekend series against Vanderbilt. Game times are set for
Friday at 6:30 p.m,
Saturday at 3 p.m. and
Sunday at 2 p.m. This is the first time the two teams have met.
Winthrop (6-6) hopes to finish its road stretch strong and as it faces the nationally ranked Commordores, snap its three game losing streak. Senior captain
TJ Olesczuk continues to lead the Eagles in hits (17) and runs batted in (9), and is hitting .447 on the year. Freshman
Babe Thomas has had an impressive start to his collegiate career, hitting .372 and ranking falling just behind Olesczuk in hits (16) and RBIs (6).
The Eagles will have to find a way to get the bats going hit against Vanderbilt (12-2) who are only allowing 5.17 hits per nine innings, ranking first in all of Division I. Opening pitcher Tyler Beede ranks seventh in the nation and first in the SEC only allowing 2.5 hits per nine innings. On offense, the Commodores will look to redshirt sophomore Zander Wiel who leads with a batting average of .348 and 16 hits, nine of them being RBIs.
Vanderbilt head coach Tim Borbin is in his 12th season in Nashville and holds an overall record of 477-231.
The pitching matchups for the weekend will be as follows:
Friday LHP
Sam Kmiec vs. RHP Tyler Beede
Saturday RHP
Joey Strain vs. LHP Jared Miller
Sunday TBA vs. RHP Tyler Ferguson
