ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop Eagles' baseball team snapped a five-game losing streak with 3-2 Big South Conference extra inning win over Radford on Friday afternoon at The Winthrop Ballpark.
Winthrop pulled off the win when freshman Hunter Lipscomb drilled a bases loaded walk-off single to center field in the bottom of the 12th. His key hit presented relief pitcher Zach Cook with the victory to even his record at 2-2. The sophomore righthander took over for starter Sam Kmiec in the top of the eighth and struck out eight Highlander hitters in nearly four innings.
With the win, Winthrop is now 17-17 (5-5) on the season, while Radford falls to 9-25 (3-7).
Radford's Trevor Riggs opened the scoring up with a solo home run over the left center field wall to grab the early 1-0 lead in the top of the 4th.
Winthrop's Kyle Edwards got the Eagles even in the bottom of the 5th with his first home run of the season.
The Highlanders regained the lead at 2-1 in the top of the 6th inning thanks to a Winthrop throwing error. Radford had runners on first and third when Danny Hrbek lined out to Edwards at shortstop, but the throw to first to double up Chris Coia was off target and Colby Higgerson scored from third.
Winthrop rallied late in the bottom of the 9th tying the game at 2-2. Mitch Spires led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Tyler Asbill brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center field to send the game to extra innings.
Anthony Paulsen led off the bottom of 12th off with a double to deep center. Mark Lowrie advanced Paulsen to third base with a sacrifice bunt. With one out, Radford elected to issue intentional walks to Roger Gonzalez and Spires. Lipscomb, who had just 13 plate appearances this season, was called on to pinch hit and delivered with a hard hit single up the middle for the 3-2 victory.
Eagle starter Sam Kmiec received a no decision for the game, but pitched well as he allowed just one earned run in 7.2 innings while striking out seven batters along the way. He lowered his season earned run average to 3.51.
Winthrop will continue their weekend series against Radford on Saturday at The Winthrop Ballpark with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 pm. The game will be televised by the American Sports Network (ASN).
For the latest information on the Winthrop Baseball team, follow @WinthropBasebal on Twitter or go to www.winthropeagles.com.
