ROCK HILL, S.C. - Winthrop baseball (20-23, 12-6 Big South Conference) heads on the road to Charleston Southern (13-30, 4-14 Big South Conference) in a three-game series Friday through Sunday. Winthrop is currently fourth in the Big South standings.
        

Winthrop (20-23, 12-6) at Charleston Southern (13-30, 4-14) – CSU Ballpark
Date	Friday, May 4	Saturday, May 5	Sunday, May 6
First Pitch	6 p.m. ET	3 p.m. ET	2 p.m. ET
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PROBABLE ROTATION
Winthrop:
Friday Game 1 – RHP Nate Pawelczyk (5-4, 3.74 ERA)
Saturday Game 2 – RHP Zach Peek (4-4, 3.86 ERA)
Sunday Game 3 – RHP Daniel Willcutt (3-4, 3.62 ERA

Charleston Southern:
Friday Game 1: RHP Evan Nations (1-2, 3.79 ERA)
Saturday Game 2: RHP Tyler Weekley (2-6, 4.27 ERA)
Sunday Game 3: LHP Cody Maw (2-2, 4.03 ERA)


LAST MEETING/A LOOK AT THE BUCS
Winthrop only faced Charleston Southern once in 2017, a midweek 4-2 loss on the road. The return home matchup was cancelled. The games did not count in conference play due to an unbalanced Big South schedule in 2017. The Eagles won the last three-game series with the Bucs, 2-1, in 2016 at home at The Winthrop Ballpark. CSU is currently in last place in the Big South standings with a 4-14 league record.
 
TEAM SNAPSHOT
-Winthrop is hitting .263 (377-for-1434) as a team with a .343 on base percentage. The Eagles have recorded 50 errors as a squad, retaining a .968 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. In a weather-altered series with Radford, the Eagles took the opener 6-3 but fell in both games of a doubleheader on Saturday. Winthrop took a three-game sweep against Asheville last weekend behind phenomenal pitching, especially from its three starters who each went a minimum of 8.0 innings.

-Winthrop is 13-5 when recording double-digit hits and 5-18 when failing to record 10 or more hits.

-The Winthrop pitching staff is second in the Big South in conference games with an ERA of 4.03. Offensively, the team is fourth in the conference in league games with a .284 batting average.

-The Eagles have struggled on the road this season, with a 4-16 record away from the friendly confines of The Winthrop Ballpark.

-The Eagles don't let opponents back in – Winthrop is 19-1 when leading after six innings.
 
PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS
-Senior Mitch Spires leads Winthrop with a .331 batting average and 57 hits on the year, good for eighth and fourth in the Big South Conference respectively. Spires also leads the Eagles in RBI (28), runs scored (31), multiple hit games (17), triples (3), and is tied for a team-high five home runs. Spires has reached base in 15-straight games, the longest streak on the squad, and also currently owns a team-high seven-game hitting streak.

-Junior RHP Nate Pawelczyk is allowing an opposing batting average of just .216, second in the Big South Conference. Pawelczyk is third in the league in innings pitched (65.0) and fifth in strikeouts (63). Of the 51 hits the Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year has given up so far this season, only nine have been doubles, none have been triples and just three have been a home run.

-Sophomore RHP Zach Peek leads the team and is second in the Big South Conference in strikeouts with 75 on the season, and was the first pitcher in the league to surpass the 50 mark. Of the 75 Ks, 24 are of the looking variety, good for third in the conference. 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, against Longwood. Peek is second in the league in innings pitched (65.1) and fifth in opposing batting average (.232).

-Senior LHP Riley Arnone owns a team-high five saves, tied for fourth in the Big South Conference. Arnone is third on the squad in appearances (17), with 14 appearances in relief, finishing nine games, a team-high.

-The Eagles have been without junior outfielder Matthew Mulkey since game one against Longwood on Fri., Mar. 23 due to injury. Mulkey continues to lead the Eagles in slugging percentage (.595), on-base percentage (.389), remains second in batting average (.304), tied for first in home runs (5) and is still third on the squad in RBI (22). Junior infielder Grant English (fourth in batting average, .277) is also out due to injury.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles head to UNC Greensboro for midweek nonconference action on Tues., May 8 at 6 p.m., then take on league-leading Campbell on the road in a three-game series Fri.-Sun., May 11-13.