ROCK HILL, SC—Sophomore
Maddie Antone hit a fifth inning two-run homer and drove in three runs to help lead Winthrop complete a series sweep of Campbell with a 7-4 victory, Saturday afternoon at Terry Field. The victory marked the 700
th for
Mark Cooke as head coach of the Eagles.
Winthrop improves to 19-22 overall and evens its record to 8-8 in the Big South while Campbell falls to 21-24 overall and 3-14 in the league. Winthrop will be back in action on Wednesday, Apr. 15 at 6 p.m. when it hosts Presbyterian College in the final game of that three-game series. The two teams split a doubleheader on Apr.7 at Terry Field.
"I thought we did a good job today," said Cooke, who now has 784 career victories. "I was real happy with the way we hit the ball with runners in scoring position. It was good to get a sweep and get back to .500 in the Big South."
Leading 3-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth, Winthrop put up four runs for a 7-1 lead and the runs turned out to be important as Campbell tried to rally later.
The four-run fifth was highlighted by Antone's two-run home run to center with one out and then
Jessica Roth came up big with a two-out, pinch-hit two-run double down the line. The home run was Antone's fourth of the season and 12
th of her career.
The Camels tried to rally in the sixth as Camise Patterson led off with a solo shot to center. That was followed by an Ericka Nesbitt infield single. At that point Cooke made a move to the bullpen for
Sutton Watson but it didn't slow up the Camels immediately. Stephanie Jones walked and then Katie Baker singled to center to cut the Winthrop lead to 7-3. That was followed by a fielder's choice RBI by Brittany Bruce that scored Nesbitt from third. After an error put runners at first and second with one out, Watson got the grounder she needed but her throw to third was in the dirt. Bruce made it to third safely and started to head home as she clipped the leg of third baseman
Kelsey Ritter, who was chasing the ball into foul territory. But Bruce turned back and headed to third and moments later stepped off the bag as Antone applied the tag to record the out. Watson then struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Antone started the scoring for Winthrop with an RBI single in the first and then the Eagles added two more runs in the second as
Paige Haley and
K.J. Uyeno each drew walks with the bases loaded.
Campbell cut it to 3-1 in the top of the fifth when Bruce led off the inning with a solo home run to left.
Dallas King started in the circle for the Eagles as she earned the win to improve to 4-9 on the year after allowing one run on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Watson tossed two innings of relief allowing one run on two hits with two walks and a strikeout.
Julie Callicutt suffered the loss for Campbell after allowing two earned runs on six hits with six walks and three strikeouts in 4.2 innings to fall to 10-7.
When referring to his 700
th win at Winthrop. "I didn't win those, the players won those games. Kudos to all of the players we've had and we've had some good ones!"
Antone finished the day 2-for-4 with a run and three RBI. Uyeno finished 2-for-2 on the day with two runs and an RBI as she's reached base in seven straight games.
