ROCK HILL, SC – The top-seeded Winthrop Baseball team will take on eighth-seeded Campbell in the first round of the Big South Tournament on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Lexington County Baseball Stadium located in Lexington, SC.
The Eagles finished the season 31-22 overall and 17-7 in the Big South as they clinched the regular season title and earned the #1 seed in the tournament. Campbell finished the season 25-30 overall and 10-14 in the league.
The two teams just recently squared off as the Eagles concluded their league home schedule against the Camels in a three-game series May 12-14. The Eagles took the series 2-1 with wins over 7-5 and 3-2 as the Camels won game two of the series 11-5.
Since getting swept by Presbyterian College in the beginning of April, the Eagles have won 15-of-21 games and are 12-3 versus league opponents in that stretch. During that span the Eagles averaged 6.7 runs per game and allowed 4.5 per game with a team ERA of 3.14.
Winthrop is 51-45 all-time in the tournament while Campbell is 19-16 all-time. The Eagles are 7-2 all-time against Campbell in the Big South Tournament and most recently met in the 2015 Big South Tournament. That year the Eagles were the third seed and defeated the Camels on the opening day 8-5 and then on day three of the tourney, 2-1.
The Eagles will go with
Reece Green on the mound while Campbell is going with Wes Noble. Green is 5-4 with a 3.40 ERA and has 67 strikeouts to 26 walks in 87.1 innings. Noble is 4-2 on the year with a 3.58 ERA and has 54 strikeouts to 30 walks in 55.1 innings.
Senior
Anthony Paulsen enters the game with a team-best .347 batting average (69 hits) and 14 doubles, 25 RBI, and 34 runs scored. Over the last 21 games he's batting .395 with 20 runs, four doubles and nine RBI and has an on-base percentage of .500. Junior
Mitch Spires is third on the team with 34 RBI, but has 22 of those in the last 21 games (led team with 27 during league play). The team leader in RBI is sophomore
Hunter Lipscomb with 48 while senior
Babe Thomas is second with 40.
The Camels Matthew Barefoot has a team-best .339 batting average (74 hits) and has 22 doubles, 48 RBI, and 42 runs scored. Cole Hallum leads the team with 50 RBI while Jef Hahs is third with 41. The Camels are averaging 6.2 runs per game.
For the latest information on Winthrop Baseball team, follow @WinthropBasebal on Twitter or go to
www.winthropeagles.com.
Tuesday, May 23 (Games 1-4) – Big South Network
Game 1: No. 2 Liberty vs. No. 7 Gardner-Webb, 9:30am
Game 2: No. 3 Presbyterian College vs. No. 6 UNC Asheville, 45 minutes following Game 1
Game 3: No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 8 Campbell, 4:30pm
Game 4: No. 4 High Point vs. No. 5 Radford, 45 minutes following Game 3
Wednesday, May 24 (Games 5-8) – Big South Network
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 9:30am
Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 45 minutes following Game 5
Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 4:30pm
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 45 minutes following Game 7
Thursday, May 25 (Games 9-10) – Big South Network
Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 5, 3:00pm
Game 10: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 6, 45 minutes following Game 9
Friday, May 26 (Games 11-12 [13-14]) – ESPN3
Game 11: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, 10:00am
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 10, 45 minutes following Game 11
Game 13: if necessary - Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11, 5:00pm (7 innings)
Game 14: if necessary - Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 12, 45 minutes following Game 13 (7 innings)
Saturday, May 27 (Championship Game) - ESPNU
Winner Game 11 (or 13) vs. Winner Game 12 (or 14), 3:00pm
