ROCK HILL, S.C. - Winthrop baseball (16-18, 8-4 Big South Conference) returns home to the friendly confines of The Winthrop Ballpark this weekend after a nine-game road stretch, taking on conference foe Radford (12-20, 4-7 Big South Conference) in a three-game series. The series schedule has been altered by Sunday's weather forecast, with Saturday being changed to a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
      

Winthrop (16-18, 8-4) vs. Radford (12-20, 4-7) – The Winthrop Ballpark
Date	Friday, April 13	Saturday, April 14	Saturday, April 14
First Pitch	6 p.m. ET	1 p.m. ET	Approx. 45 minutes after    completion of first game
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PROBABLE ROTATION
Winthrop:
Friday Game 1 – RHP Nate Pawelczyk (3-4, 4.50 ERA)
Saturday Game 2 – RHP Zach Peek (3-3, 4.38 ERA)
Saturday Game 3 – TBA

Radford:
Friday Game 1 – LHP Hunter Williams (1-2, 4.95 ERA)
Saturday Game 2 – RHP Austin Ross (5-3, 3.74 ERA)
Saturday Game 3 – RHP Ryan Sande (0-1 3.60 ERA)

LAST MEETING/A LOOK AT THE HIGHLANDERS
Winthrop won the 2017 series at Radford 2-1, dropping the first game 3-1, but coming back to take the final two games of the series by scores of 7-3 and 8-1.
The Highlanders are on the hunt for their second-straight Big South series, coming off a 2-1 series win over Longwood. Previously in the season, Radford fell to Gardner-Webb, High Point and UNC Asheville.
 
TEAM SNAPSHOT
Winthrop is hitting .265 (301-for-1138) as a team with a .352 on base percentage. The Eagles have recorded 41 errors as a squad, retaining a .967 fielding percentage overall.

Winthrop opened conference play on a 6-0 streak and suffered its first setback on the road at High Point. In its first six conference games, Winthrop recorded double-digit hits in five of six (and posted nine in the sixth game), winning all six games. In the series at High Point, the Eagles belted just a combined five hits in the first two games, both losses, but bounced back for 11 hits and 11 runs and a victory in game three. Against Gardner-Webb, the Eagles couldn't hang on to a 6-3 lead when a rain-halted game two resumed the next day, falling 7-6, but bounced back, with 12 hits in a 10-5 victory in game three.

Winthrop is 11-4 when recording double-digit hits and 5-14 when failing to record 10 or more hits.

The Winthrop pitching staff is third the Big South in conference games with an ERA of 4.56. Offensively, the team is fourth in the conference in league games with a .292 batting average.

The Eagles have fared much better at home at this season, boasting a 12-4 record at The Winthrop Ballpark, but a 4-14 record in road games.
 
PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS
-Senior Mitch Spires leads the Eagles with 45 hits (fifth in the Big South), 10 of which are doubles, which is tied for second in the Big South Conference. Spires also leads Winthrop with 13 multiple-hit games, including a team-high five games with three hits. His team-high .321 batting average is good for 10^th in the Big South.

-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 .425 (21-for-51) in conference play. English is second on the squad overall with a .304 average.

-Junior infielder Jake Sullivan has hit a double in four of the last six games after hitting just three all season previously. He's also increased his season RBI total by 50% in the same stretch, adding five RBI to bring his total to 14.  

-Junior RHP Nate Pawelczyk is allowing an opposing batting average of just .228, sixth in the Big South Conference. Pawelczyk is third in the league in innings pitched (50.0) and fifth in strikeouts (46). Of the 42 hits the Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year has given up so far this season, none have been triples and only two have been a home run.
 
-Sophomore RHP Zach Peek leads the team and the Big South Conference in strikeouts with 62 on the season, and was 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 on Mar. 26 after hurling a complete game shutout, the first of his career and the only one in the league so far this season, against Longwood. Peek is second in the league in innings pitched (51.1) and seventh in opposing batting average (.235).

-The Eagles have been without junior outfielder Matthew Mulkey since game one against Longwood on Fri., Mar. 23. Mulkey continues to lead the Eagles in slugging percentage (.595), on-base percentage (.389), home runs (5) and is second on the squad in RBI (22).
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles have two midweek contests next week, heading to Davidson on Tues., Apr. 17 at 6 p.m., then hosting USC Upstate at 6 p.m. on Weds., Apr. 18. Winthrop continues Big South play at home with a three-game series next weekend, Fri.-Sun., Apr. 20-22, against UNC Asheville.
 
27^th EAGLE CLUB SCHOLARSHIP AUCTION (APR. 14)
The 27^th Eagle Club Scholarship Auction is Saturday and there is still time to get your tickets for this great event. The event will take place on Sat., Apr. 14 at 6 p.m. inside the Winthrop Coliseum. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the silent auction beginning at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and the live auction starting at approximately 8 p.m. For more information contact Taryn Moreno, coordinator for the Eagle Club (803-323-2129, ext. 3067 or morenot@winthrop.edu) or visit www.winthropeagles.com/auction.