FAYETTEVILLE, NC - In what was a dogfight for the first half of the ballgame, Thursday's Big South Championship winner's bracket matchup between Winthrop and Presbyterian seemed to be headed for a high-scoring and tight finish. However, Nate Pawelczyk settled in and quieted the Presbyterian bats, and the Eagles outscored the Blue Hose 9-1 from the fourth inning onward to lead the Eagles to a 12-5 win. Winthrop now advances to a 12:30 contest Friday against either top-seeded Campbell or seventh-seeded Charleston Southern for a chance to advance to Saturday's Big South Championship Game. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

- After a clean first inning, Eagles starter Nate Pawelczyk ran into trouble in the top of the second, allowing four runs on four hits as Presbyterian took a 4-3 lead over the Eagles. However, Pawelczyk settled down beautifully after the second, allowing only one hit over the next five innings to complete a strong outing of 7.0 innings. Pawelczyk's day ended having allowed five runs (all earned) on five hits, striking out seven and walking two. Pawelczyk was the winning pitcher on Wednesday for the Eagles, earning his Big South-best ninth win of the year (9-4). After Pawelczyk's day was done after 114 pitches, Jason Crumley entered with the Eagles leading 12-5 and got the final six outs in shutout fashion, striking out two and walking one, allowing one hit. 

- Offensively, the Eagles got started right away in a big way. With runners on first and third with two outs, Grant English crushed a three-run home run from the left side of the plate over the right field wall, scoring Spencer Yankle and Hunter Lipscomb on the play to give the Eagles an early 3-0 lead. The homer was English's fifth of the season. 

- Entering the bottom of the fourth trailing 4-3 after Presbyterian scored four runs in the top of the second inning, the Eagles scored twice to retake a 5-4 lead. With one out, Grant English singled up the middle to put a man on for Matthew Mulkey, who got in on the home run party with a two-run homer well beyond the left field wall for his sixth home run of the season. 

- After a Presbyterian solo home run tied the game at 5 in the top of the fifth inning, the Eagles answered right back in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead at 6-5. With runners on first and second with one out, Spencer Yankle hit a hard grounder to third base that was mishandled and trickled into left field, allowing Scout McFalls to score from second on the error. 

- In the bottom of the sixth inning, Winthrop added three runs to create separation. Matthew Mulkey was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Sullivan. Brandon Fite then came to the plate and singled up the middle to drive in Mulkey for Fite's first hit of the Big South Championship. After a flyout to deep right field allowed Fite to tag up and advance to second base, Scout McFalls doubled to right center to score Fite from second and give the Eagles an 8-5 lead. The next man up was Alex Raines, who hit a ground-rule double that bounced over the right field wall to score McFalls and put the Eagles on top 9-5. 

- Three more Eagle runs in the bottom of the seventh inning broke the game open in favor of Winthrop, putting the home team up 12-5. After Hunter Lipsocmb singled to left center to lead off the inning, Grant English hit his second home run of the contest, this one coming from the right side of the plate. The two-run blast over the left field wall was English's sixth of the season, tying him with Matthew Mulkey and Hunter Lipscomb for the team lead. Two batters later, Jake Sullivan lined a single into left field and two batters after him, Tyler Baker singled to right center field with two outs to score Sullivan and give the Eagles a dozen runs on the day. 

NOTABLES

- The Eagles banged out 15 hits in Thursday's win, the eighth time this season the Eagles have knocked 15 or more. 

- Winthrop was led offensively by Grant English (3-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R) and Alex Raines (3-5, RBI) with three hits apiece and Scout McFalls (2-5, 2B, RBI, 2 R) and Jake Sullivan (2-3, R) with two hits each. 

- Nate Pawelczyk's 7.0 inning performance on Thursday was the sixth time in 2019 the Senior RHP has gone at least seven innings. 

UP NEXT: The Eagles will face the winner of Thursday afternoon's Campbell vs. Charleston Southern matchup at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Segra Stadium.