ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop Eagles' baseball squad couldn't hold off a late rally staged by the Davidson Wildcats, dropping a hard fought 12-10 decision in a mid-week non-conference battle Tuesday night at the Winthrop Ballpark.
With the loss, Winthrop is now 18-19 on the season, while Davidson improves to 20-17.
The Eagles jumped to the early lead scoring three runs on three hits in the bottom of the 1st. After the bases were loaded from back to back singles from Brandon Fite and Anthony Paulsen, and following a Mark Lowrie walk, Roger Gonzalez knocked a base clearing double to deep right field.
Davidson responded with two runs on three hits of their own in the top of the 2nd inning.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Paulsen and Gonzalez both reached on errors and were sent home by a Babe Thomas single to right field for the 5-2 lead.
Asbill and Fite started the Eagles' half of the 4th off with back to back singles. Lowrie then singled to shortstop to score both base runners. Jace Whitley responded with a single to center field. Thomas doubled to left field scoring both Lowrie and Whitley to give Winthrop the 9-2 lead.
The Wildcats' Brian Fortier and Sam Foy led the 6th inning off with back to back long balls over the left field wall.
In the top of the 6th, Davidson continued to cut into the Eagles' lead when they rallied for six runs on five hits to close the gap to 9-8.
The Wildcats added another run to tie the game at 9-9 in the top of the 7th.
Winthrop responded with a run of their own to regain the lead when Kyle Edwards hit a fielder's choice scoring Whitley who had previously singled in the bottom of the 7th.
Davidson tied the game once again in the top of the 8th on a sacrifice fly.
The Wildcats took the 12-10 lead in the top of the 9th scoring two runs and the Eagles were unable to post a rally in the bottom half of the 9th.
Winthrop's starter Zach Sightler was on a limited pitch count and only pitched 2.0 inning. Sightler allowed three hits and two earned runs. Zach Cook who pitched 3.1 innings in relief took the loss and is now 2-3 on the year.
Davidson out-hit Winthrop 19-11 on the night. Whitley, Fite, and Thomas each had two hits a piece with Thomas knocking in four runs.
Winthrop will travel Wofford for a mid-week non-conference matchup this Wednesday, April 20 at Russell C. King Field in Spartanburg, SC with the first pitch scheduled for 6:00 pm.
For the latest information on the Winthrop Baseball team, follow @WinthropBasebal on Twitter or go to www.winthropeagles.com.
