Box Score LYNCHBURG, VA – The Winthrop Baseball team made a four-run second inning stand up as the Eagles defeated Liberty 5-3 Thursday night in the opener of a three-game Big South Conference series at Liberty Baseball Stadium.

With the victory, the Eagles improve to 18-16 overall and 6-4 in the Big South while the Flames fall to 20-12 and 7-3 in the conference.

The Eagles got on the board in the top of the second with back-to-back doubles by senior Babe Thomas and junior Halstead, and RBI singles by sophomores Brandon Fite and Grant English.

Liberty scored two  runs in the bottom of the third when Cam Locklear singled to right field to drive home Will Shepherd who reached on a Mitch Spires fielding error. Matt Allen scored the second run on a sacrifice fly by D.J. Artis.

The two teams traded runs in the sixth to give Winthrop a 5-3 lead. Senior Anthony Paulsen singled to right to scored Tyler Musselwhite who had singled earlier that inning.  LU's Andrew Kowalo hit a solo home run to left in the bottom of the inning.

Halstead led the Eagles at the plate as he went 2 for 4 with one RBI, English went 2 for 4 with two RBI, and  Paulsen went 2 for 5 with two singles and one RBI.

Senior right hander Reece Green (4-3) got back on track as he threw six innings, allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits, and struck out four. Sophomore Dalton Whitaker earned his fifth save of the season. Caleb Evans (5-3) suffered the loss for the Flames as he did not make it through the second inning. He allowed four runs and six hits in just 1.1 innings of work.

The series will continue on Friday with a 6 p.m. game and then concludes on Saturday at 2 p.m.

For the latest information on Winthrop Baseball team, follow @WinthropBasebal on Twitter or go to www.winthropeagles.com.