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ROCK HILL, SC—Kyle Edwards drove home four runs, including two on his first homer of the year, to lead Winthrop to an 8-7 win over Jacksonville Friday afternoon in the first game of a weekend series at The Winthrop Ballpark.

Winthrop improves to 4-3 while Jacksonville drops to 5-4.  The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 3 p.m. and close out the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Edwards blasted the home run to left field in the decisive eighth inning when Winthrop broke a 4-4 tie by scoring four times off Dolphin relief pitcher Spencer Stockton.  Edwards' homer scored Mitch Spires ahead of him to put the Eagles up 6-4.  Winthrop added the final two runs when Stockton walked in a run with the bases loaded and then allowed Anthony Paulsen to score the final run on a wild pitch.

Winthrop held off a ninth inning rally by the Dolphins to preserve the win.  Eagle relief pitcher Joey Strain, who came on to get the final out of the eighth inning, allowed three runs on three hits in the ninth, but ended the game with a strikeout and was credited with his first win of the season.

Jacksonville scored a run in the first inning off Winthrop starter Sam Kmiec when Angelo Amendolare scored on a triple to left field by Austin Hays. 

Winthrop got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth as it took the lead after plating two runs off JU starter Michael Baumann.  Roger Gonzales drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a single by Mark Lowrie.  Brad Kaczka moved both runners up a base with a sacrifice bunt.  Baumann was one out away from getting out of the inning when Edwards smacked a single to centerfield to score both runners.

Kmiec gave up the lead in the sixth inning when JU struck for three runs to go ahead 4-2.  The big hits in the inning were a two-run single by Hays and an RBI double by Dylan Dillard.

The Eagles tied things with single runs in the sixth and seventh.  John Menken made it a 4-3 game with a solo home run to left in the sixth.  He then tied the game in the seventh with an RBI single that scored Tyler Asbill who had walked to lead off the inning.

That set the stage for the final two innings that saw Winthrop break the tie with four runs in the eighth before holding off the two-out rally by the Dolphins.