ROCK HILL, S.C. - Winthrop baseball (12-14, 6-0 Big South) is on the road for conference play this weekend, taking on High Point (12-12, 4-2 Big South) in a three-game series running Thursday through Saturday.
PROBABLE ROTATION
Winthrop:
Thursday Game 1 – RHP
Nate Pawelczyk (3-2, 3.08 ERA)
Friday Game 2 – RHP
Zach Peek (3-2, 4.43 ERA)
Saturday Game 3 – TBA
High Point:
Thursday Game 1 – RHP Andrew Gottfried (3-2, 3.09)
Friday Game 2 – RHP Drew Daczkowski (1-2, 5.23)
Saturday Game 3 – TBA
LAST MEETING
Winthrop swept the 2017 series with the Panthers at The Winthrop Ballpark, outscoring High Point 23-8 in the three games. The two squads met again in the Big South Championship, a more narrow 14-13 victory for the Eagles.
In Big South play, High Point is 4-2 and holds series wins over Radford and Longwood. The Panthers are coming off a 12-6 midweek road loss to UNCG. Winthrop also fell to UNCG 3-2 on Wed., Mar. 14.
TEAM SNAPSHOT
Winthrop is hitting .269 (232-for-861) as a team with a .351 on base percentage. The Eagles have recorded 26 errors as a squad, retaining a .972 fielding percentage overall.
The Eagles are undefeated in conference play at 6-0 and lead the league in conference-only games batting .366 as a squad. In conference games Winthrop also leads the league in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, RBI and hits. The Winthrop pitching staff is second in the conference with a 3.67 staff ERA. Winthrop has scored 10 or more runs in three of its six conference games so far, outscoring opponents 63-25.
The Eagles have struggled on the road this season, falling to 0-10 away from home with a 5-3 loss to Wofford on Tues., Mar. 27.
PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS
-Senior
Mitch Spires leads the Eagles with 35 hits, nine of which are doubles, which is tied for third in the Big South Conference. Spires also leads Winthrop with 10 multiple-hit games, including a team-high four games with three hits. The senior also owns a team-high streak of reaching base of 12-straight games and has at least one RBI in nine of the last 10 games.
-Junior infielder
Grant English had a breakout series against Longwood, including a career-high five hits and five RBI in the series finale, and is hitting .632 (12-for-19) in conference play. His performance brought his season average up to a team-leading .342. English was named Big South Player of the Week this week (Mar. 26) for his efforts.
-Junior outfielder
Matthew Mulkey leads the Eagles in RBI (22) and slugging percentage (.595). His five home runs on the season are also a team-high and surpass his 2017 season total of three.
-Junior RHP
Nate Pawelczyk is allowing an opposing batting average of just .174, second-best in the Big South Conference. Pawelczyk is third in the league in innings pitched (38.0) and sixth in ERA (3.08). Of the 23 hits the Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year has given up so far this season, none have been triples and only one has been a home run.
-Sophomore RHP
Zach Peek leads the team and the Big South Conference in strikeouts with 51 on the season, the first pitcher in the league to surpass the 50 mark. With nine strikeouts at ETSU, he fell just one short of having three-straight games with double-digit strikeouts (10 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore, 12 vs. Kent State.) Peek was named Big South Starting Pitcher of the Week this week (Mar. 26) after hurling a complete game shutout, the first of his career, against Longwood.
PRESEASON FAVORITES
Winthrop has been predicted to win the Big South Conference by the league's coaches and D1Baseball.com.
UP NEXT
The Eagles continue a stretch of nine-straight road games with a midweek contest at The Citadel on Weds., Apr. 4 at 6 p.m. then pick up conference play again for weekend series at Gardner-Webb, Fri.-Sun., Apr. 6-8.
