ROCK HILL, SC—Grant English singled in the go ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Winthrop baseball team a 3-2 win over Maine on Sunday and a sweep of its opening weekend series at The Winthrop Ballpark.

English, a sophomore who was the designated hitter, had half of Winthrop's hits as he finished 3 for 4 at the plate.  Tyler Halstead collected two hits and scored the run that put Winthrop up in the eighth inning.

Winthrop (3-0) fell behind 2-0 in the first inning as the Black Bears (0-3) touched up Eagle freshman starter Colton Rendon for three hits, but the Eagles cut into the lead with a run in the fifth when Anthony Paulsen tripled down the right field line to drive home Scout McFalls who reached base on a walk.

The Eagles came up with two runs in the bottom of the eighth when Hunter Lipscomb drew a one-out walk from Maine reliever Cody Lawyerson and moved around to third on a single by Halstead.  Lawyerson was relieved by Jeff Gelinas who promptly delivered a wild pitch that allowed Lipscomb to score the tying run.  English then lined a single to left to score Halstead with what proved to be the winning run.

Right-handed reliever Nate Pawelczyk came on in relief of Rendon in the eighth inning and threw two hitless innings to earn the win while Lawyerson suffered the defeat.  Rendon and Pawelczyk did not allow a base on balls.  Rendon allowed six hits in his seven innings of work and struck out three.

Winthrop also finished the game with six hits, but the Eagles their share of scoring opportunities as the Maine starting pitcher Nick Silva walked five batters and hit another in his six innings on the mound.  Winthrop stranded 11 baserunners compared to three for Maine.

Winthrop will be back in action next weekend, Feb. 24-26, when the Eagles travel to Kennesaw State for a three-game series.

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