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Box Score 2 ASHEVILLE, NC - After losing the series opener to UNC Asheville Friday night, Winthrop responded in a big way, sweeping the Saturday doubleheader at Greenwood Field in Asheville to win the series over the Bulldogs. Winthrop took game one 9-1 as
Nate Pawelczyk picked up his seventh win of the season, and the Eagles won game two 4-3 thanks to seven strong innings from
Thad Harris, timely offense and shutdown bullpen work from
Colten Rendon. Winthrop is now 20-15 overall on the year and 10-5 in Big South play with the doubleheader sweep, and UNC Asheville drops to 12-22 overall and 7-8 in league play with the loss.
GAME ONE - HOW IT HAPPENED
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Nate Pawelczyk picked up his seventh win of the season (7-2) in game one as he gave the Eagles 6.0 strong innings, allowing only one run (earned) on four hits, striking out five and walking three while throwing 99 pitches. Pawelczyk was lifted after six with the Eagles out in front 9-1 in favor of
Dalton Whitaker, who turned in his best outing of the season, tossing three scoreless innings to close the ballgame, allowing two hits while striking out one and walking one. Whitaker's three innings of relief earned him a save, his first of the season.
- The Eagles jumped out offensively with four runs in the top of the third inning to take an early lead. After
Tyler Baker singled through the left side and stole second base,
Scout McFalls singled up the middle to bring Baker to the plate. After an
Alex Raines single and a walk to
Spencer Yankle,
Hunter Lipscomb singled up the middle to score McFalls and Raines to make it a 3-0 game. The fourth run of the inning came in when
Matthew Mulkey hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring
Spencer Yankle.
- Winthrop tallied five more runs in the top of the fifth inning to put the game out of reach for the Bulldogs. With the bases loaded and one out,
Matthew Mulkey lined out to left field for out number two, but UNCA's left fielder made a throwing error trying to double off
Hunter Lipscomb at second base, allowing
Alex Raines to score from third and Lipscomb to advance to third on the play. After
Grant English stole second and
Jake Sullivan walked, the bases were re-loaded for
Brandon Fite, who singled up the middle to score
Hunter Lipscomb and
Grant English, extending the Eagle lead to 7-1. After the Bulldogs made a pitching change, the first batter up was
Tyler Baker who singled to right center field to score
Jake Sullivan and send
Brandon Fite to third. The next man up was
Scout McFalls, who singled up the middle to score Fite and make it a 9-1 Winthrop lead.
GAME ONE - NOTABLES
- Five different Eagles tallied multi-hit games in game one, led by
Tyler Baker who went 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored. WInthrop got two hits apiece from
Matthew Mulkey (2-3, 2 RBI),
Scout McFalls (2-5, 2 RBI, R),
Hunter Lipscomb (2-5, 2 RBI, R) and
Spencer Yankle (2-4, R).
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Nate Pawelczyk's seven wins give him the most in the Big South conference, two wins clear of any other pitcher in the league.
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Dalton Whitaker's 3.0 scoreless innings was the right-hander's longest outing of the year out of the bullpen.
GAME TWO - HOW IT HAPPENED
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Thad Harris tossed his best outing of the season, logging seven strong innings while scattering six hits and allowing three runs (all earned) while striking out one and walking one, throwing 98 pitches. Harris picked up his second win of the season (2-4). Harris' biggest moment came and the end of the sixth inning, when he stranded the would-be tying run on third with a strikeout for the final out, giving a yell and a fist pump in celebration. The ball was turned over to
Colten Rendon for the final six outs, and the junior tossed two hitless innings to nail down his third save of the season. Rendon struck out three and walked one in his fourth consecutive scoreless outing.
- The Eagles scored two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth for their offensive output in game two.
Scout McFalls reached on a bunt single to lead off the inning, but had to leave the game after an injury from sliding into the bag trying to beat the throw.
CJ Conrad came on as the pinch runner and scored from first right away, as
Alex Raines knocked an RBI double down the left field line to bring the freshman to the plate. Afte Raines advanced to third on a groundout, he scored on an RBI groundout by
Hunter Lipscomb to tie the game at two.
- In the fifth, The Eagles took the lead.
Tyler Baker came to the plate with runners on the corners and nobody out, and executed the safety squeeze bunt to perfection, scoring
Jake Sullivan on the play.
CJ Conrad then knocked the biggest hit of his freshman campaign, an RBI single to right field with two outs that scored
Brandon Fite to give the Eagles their fourth run.
GAME TWO - NOTABLES
- Two Eagles picked up multiple hits in game two in
Alex Raines (2-4, RBI, R) and
Jake Sullivan (2-4, R)
UP NEXT: The Eagles welcome Wofford to the Winthrop Ballpark for a 6 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday night.
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