LYNCHBURG, Va. – Winthrop baseball (25-30, 15-12 Big South Conference) bounced back from its tournament-opening loss to take a 7-4 win over eight-seed Longwood (17-38, 9-18 Big South Conference) Wednesday evening in the nightcap game of the day. The Eagles recorded 13 hits for the second-straight game while holding the Lancers to seven. Starting pitcher
Zach Peek padded his league-leading strikeout total with nine K's on the night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Longwood struck first with a sacrifice fly to score Justin Mitchell, who got on base with a double, taking a 1-0 lead.
-Starting right-hander
Zach Peek had five strikeouts through four innings to hold the lead at 1-0 Longwood.
-
Mitch Spires and
Tyler Halstead hit back-to-back singles to lead off the 4
th, and Longwood starter Cody Boydstun loaded the bases with a walk to
Dillon Morton.
Cale Gibson sent a single to right to tie the game, starting an onslaught of scoring for the inning and chasing Boydstun from the mound for reliever RHP Todd Moxey.
-
Hunter Lipscomb dropped a hit into shallow left for a two-run score and a 3-1 lead.
Brandon Fite walked to once again load the bases with no outs. A
Ryan Watson strikeout put one out on the board, followed by
Scout McFalls sending a base hit to center for another RBI. A walk to Spires back at the top of the order scored Lipscomb and pushed the lead to 5-1.
-The Eagles allowed a run on a walk in the 5
th.
-Winthrop posted two hits in the bottom of the 5
th and threatened to score from third, but Morton was caught in a pickle play.
-Longwood continued chipping away at the lead with a single RBI in the 6
th and a solo home run in the 7
th to pull within one at 5-4.
-In the 7
th, Halstead got on base with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He appeared to have scored on a Gibson fly out, but was called out on appeal for leaving second base early.
-Entering in the top of the 8
th, RHP
Dalton Whitaker sat down the Lancers in order.
-In the bottom half of the inning the Eagles found some breathing room as freshman
Ryan Watson sent a double to left, just his third extra base hit of the season, to score Fite. A Sullivan single RBI would score Watson for a 7-4 lead.
NOTABLES
-Winthrop posted 13 hits for the second-straight game, the first time with back-to-back games with double-digit hits since May 4-5 against Charleston Southern.
-With nine strikeouts tonight, RHP
Zach Peek has 99 on the season.
-
Hunter Lipscomb was 3-for-4 at the plate with one run scored and two RBI. It was the first three-hit game of the season for Lipscomb, who has 10 two-hit games. It also marked his seventh multiple-RBI game of the season, tied for third-best on the squad.
-RHP
Dalton Whitaker took the mound for the final two innings, earning his team-best sixth save of the season. Whitaker faced seven batters, recording two strikeouts and allowing no runs on one hit.
UP NEXT
Winthrop will face the loser of Thursday's Game 8 #1 Campbell and #5 Gardner-Webb. The game will be the third of the day and an elimination game, beginning 45 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game, approximately 8:30 p.m.