ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop continues non-conference action was it travels to Conway, SC to take on Coastal Carolina in a midweek contest.
 
WHERE: Conway, SC (St. John Stadium / 500)
WHEN: Wednesday, Mar. 27, 3 p.m.
RECORDS: Winthrop (13-14) | Coastal Carolina (23-9)
LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO
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SERIES HISTORY

• This marks the 115^th meeting between Winthrop and Coastal Carolina
• The two teams have continued to play each other since the Chanticleers departure to the Sun Belt Conference after the 2016 season
• Coastal leads the all-time series 58-56 as the two teams split a doubleheader in Rock Hill last season

A LOOK AT THE CHANTICLEERS

• Enjoying a good season with 23 wins out of 32 games but currently on a three-game losing streak
• Have a 3-0 record against Big South Conference opponents this season
• Have played the majority of their contests at home, sporting a 17-5 record at St. John Stadium
• Batting .247 as a team with an average of 4.7 runs per game while opponents are batting .249 and scoring 2.7 runs per game
• Led by Courtney Dean with a .355 average, 22 runs, six doubles, 10 homeruns, and 27 RBI
• Taylor Sweigart is the only other Coastal player batting .300 or better at .333 with 17 runs, five doubles, two triples, five homeruns and 15 RBI
• One of the top powers teams in the country with 44 homeruns and rank 12^th nationally in homeruns per game (1.38)
• Rank 51^st in the country in team ERA at 2.51 as the staff is led by Kaitlin Beasley-Polko and Ashley Guillette
• Beasley-Polko leads the way with a 2.10 ERA and a 14-6 record with 109 strikeouts to 34 walks
• Guillette has a 2.74 ERA and 9-3 record with 78 strikeouts to 31 walks

GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Coming off a home series win over Binghamton in which the Eagles scored 20 runs in three games
• Looking for a third straight win and to even its season record to be .500 or better for the first ime since the Eagles were 9-9 after the loss to 11^th-ranked South Carolina
• Led by Morgan Lowers averaging .398 with 23 runs, four doubles, three triples, three homeruns and 17 RBI
• Brooke Ellison is second on the team with a .316 average as she has 13 runs and 11 RBI
• Ashley Westbrooks is coming off a huge weekend at the plate as she was 6-for-10 with four runs, a double, four homeruns and 12 RBI against Binghamton
• Westbrooks has a five-game hitting streak (two hits in each of the last three games) and also a streak of five straight games with an RBI
• Over the last five she's 8-for-16 at the plate with five runs and 14 RBI
• Blake Wallert hit a walk-off grand slam the last time she faced Coastal as her shot over the right field fence ended the game in the bottom of the fifth inning to earn a doubleheader split
• Wallert has four career hits vs. Coastal with three of them for extra bases
• Madyson Watson earned her sixth win of the season and is now 6-3 with an ERA of 2.49 and 61 strikeouts to 27 walks
• Kiley Majette earned a win in relief as she improved to 4-8 on the year with a 4.60 ERA and 64 strikeouts to 18 walks

HEAD COACH WINDY THEES

• Head coach Windy Thees is in her first year at Winthrop and in her 15^th season as head coach of a collegiate softball program
• Spent five seasons at Georgia State & College compiling a 163-92 record followed by six years at Memphis (172-151) and three seasons at Ole Miss (69-94)
• In her 15 seasons she's compiled an overall record of 417-351 and a record of 254-259 at the helm of a D1 program
• Led Ole Miss to five wins over nationally-ranked opponents that included a 2-0 victory at #1 Florida in 2014
• In 2003 she led Georgia State & College to a runner-up finish in the Division II National Championship
• Thees was a four-year starter at Florida State as both a catcher and second baseman. 

SCHEDULE

• Eagles have 10 opponents that finished in the Top 100 RPI in 2018 and seven in the Top 75
• There are three opponents that made an NCAA Regional, 11 teams that finished in the Top 3 of their respective conference and five of which played in a conference championship game
• Winthrop had two opponents in the preseason Top 10 with Georgia at 6^th and South Carolina tied for 9^th 
• Georgia is ranked 12^th while South Carolina is ranked 16^th in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll
• Coastal Carolina received votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll for a couple of weeks before just dropping out this week

EAGLES AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS

• There are a few players ranked among the national leaders with Brooke Ellison's triples being the highest ranking at 10^th (Cydney Curman of CSU Bakersfield leads the nation with six)
• Ellison ranks 12^th in triples, and 18^th in triples per game while Lowers ranks 47^th in triples per game
• Keleigh Romine ranks 26^th nationally in walks and also leads the Big South

WESTBROOKS NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ashley Westbrooks was tabbed the Big South Conference Player of the Week on Mar. 25. The junior third baseman finished the weekend series with Binghamton 6-for-10 with four runs, a double, four homeruns, and 12 RBI. She hit three of her homeruns on Saturday to help lead the Eagles to a doubleheader sweep to take the series 2-1. In the first game of the doubleheader Westbrooks hit two homeruns to finish with a career-high seven RBI. In the third inning she hit a three-run homerun to cut the Bearcats lead to 5-3 and then hit a grand slam for an 8-5 lead in the fourth inning. In the second game of the doubleheader she hit a two-run homer to give the Eagles a 7-2 lead in the sixth inning. The 12 RBI in the series pushed her career total to 85, becoming the 16^th player in program history to reach 80 or more in a career.

ROMINE NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Keleigh Romine was named the Big South Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 11. Romine had an impressive opening weekend as she led the team in batting at .571 and tied for team-high eight hits. She had an impressive on-base percentage of .714 and reached base in all five games. Romine began the weekend 2-for-2 with a run, RBI and two walks in the season opening win over Savannah State. In the third game of the weekend she started in the circle and allowed no runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts to earn the win. In the same game she had an RBI single in the 3^rd inning for a 1-0 lead. Against Georgia Southern she tied a career-best of three hits to help the Eagles earn a 10-7 win over the host of the tournament. She got the Eagles in front in the first inning with an RBI single to right center and tied the game at 4-4 later on a ground rule double.

BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL
Winthrop was picked to finish 7^th in the Big South Conference despite returning all but one starter and its entire pitching staff. Longwood was picked to finish first, edging out newcomer USC Upstate by eight votes as the favorite. Radford was picked third followed by Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Winthrop, Hampton and Presbyterian College.
 
UP NEXT
Eagles return home for a three-game series with Big South foe Gardner-Webb beginning with a doubleheader on Friday at 4 p.m. The series will conclude with a single-game on Saturday at 1 p.m.