ROCK HILL, SC - Five second inning runs and seven more in the bottom of the third were more than enough for Winthrop on Sunday afternoon, as the Eagles beat Maine 13-4 at the Winthrop Ballpark to sweep the Black Bears and improve to 3-0 on the young season. Maine has now lost six straight games to Winthrop dating back to 2017, and falls to 0-3 this year after the weekend sweep in Rock Hill.
With Maine leading 2-0 entering the bottom of the second inning, the Eagles put up a five spot to take the lead.
Ethan Fewell came to the plate with runners on first and second and lined a double down the right field line to score
Spencer Yankle, the first hit of Fewell's Winthrop career to get Winthrop on the board. The next man up was
CJ Conrad, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score
Cale Gibson from third and tie the score. With two outs in the inning,
Tyler Baker lofted a fly ball into shallow right field that was dropped by the Maine second baseman, allowing
Ethan Fewell to score from second on the play and give Winthrop a 3-2 lead.
Joe McNamara and
Andrew Jenner then added to the damage with an RBI double and single, respectively, to give the Eagles five runs in the inning and a 5-2 lead.
In the top of the third, the Black Bears scored twice to cut the Eagle lead to one. However in the bottom of the third, Winthrop threw the knockout punch, exploding for seven runs and putting the game out of reach for Maine.
Ethan Fewell once again was up with runners on first and second, and once again the freshman came through. Fewell shot a single through the right side of the infield, scoring
Dillon Morton to make it 6-4 Winthrop and advancing
Cale Gibson from first to third base. After an RBI fielder's choice by
CJ Conrad scored
Cale Gibson to make it 7-4 Eagles,
Tyler Baker lined a 2 RBI triple to right center field to bring Fewell and Conrad to the plate to give Winthrop a 9-4 advantage. The line kept moving with
Andrew Jenner, who singled to left field to bring Baker home for Winthrop's tenth run. Two batters after Jenner came
Spencer Yankle, who reached on an error by Maine's third baseman, allowing Jenner to score and
Scout McFalls to advance to third. Finally, the seventh run of the inning crossed on a
Dillon Morton RBI single to right field, bringing
Scout McFalls to the plate to make it 12-4 Winthrop after three innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Eagles tacked on their thirteenth and final run when
Joe McNamara knocked an RBI single into left field, scoring
Ethan Fewell.
On the mound, freshman
Garrett Gainey started for the Eagles. The southpaw yielded two runs on three hits before recording an out, but quickly settled in by striking out four consecutive Black Bear hitters. In two-plus innings of work, Gainey allowed three runs on three hits, striking out four and walking two before being lifted due to injury in the third inning. Due to pitch count restrictions, Gainey was Sunday's winning pitcher for the Eagles, earning his first career victory to move to 1-0 on the season.
Graduate transfer
Andrew Coker came on for Gainey with nobody out in the third inning, and ultimately put together a great outing. Coker gave the Eagles four innings of relief on Sunday afternoon without allowing a hit, allowing one run while striking out two and walking three on 70 pitches thrown.
Freshman right-hander
Dalton Skinner made his collegiate debut following Coker, turning in a solid performance of two shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out two batters. Junior lefty
Bryan Petta got the final three outs for the Eagles, tossing a three up, three down ninth inning.
UP NEXT: The Eagles travel to Columbia, SC to take on South Carolina at Founders Park. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. Tuesday's game will be televised on SECN+ and will also have a Winthrop internet radio stream.
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