Rock Hill, S.C. – Coming off a narrow 5-3 loss to South Carolina at home on Tuesday afternoon, Winthrop seeks to bounce back as they host the Villanova Wildcats for a three-game series starting Friday afternoon.
STARTING PITCHING ROTATIONS
Friday: Bobby Olsen (0-0, 10.80 ERA at Nebraska) |
Connor Harris (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Saturday: Luke McCullough (5-4, 5.20 ERA) |
Owen Sarna (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Sunday: TBA |
Randy Guzman (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
A LOOK AT VILLANOVA
- This is the first meeting between the Eagles and the Wildcats
- Villanova enters the weekend at 1-2 after Wednesday's game against Saint Peter's was cancelled due to inclement weather
- The 'Cats picked up a 10-6 win in their season-opener over Rice. Right-handed pitcher Bobby Olsen shined, giving up only three hits, no runs and no walks over 6.0 innings. He also struck out seven in the win
- The following day, Villanova fell in a close 3-1 loss to No. 2 Virginia. RHP Luke McCollough tossed five strong innings, giving up only one run and posting seven strikeouts
- Right-handed pitcher Bobby Olsen will return to his home state of South Carolina in the Winthrop series. The Powdersville native was excellent in the Wildcats' season opener against Rice, pitching six innings of one-run ball in the 10-6 win. He allowed only one run, three hits and no walks, while striking out seven. Olsen was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for his efforts
- A handful of first-year players put their talents on full display in their collegiate baseball debuts at the Puerto Rico Challenge
- Infielder Brayden Leonard tallied a pair of hits over the weekend, including his first career home run. Additionally, Leonard made two exceptional diving plays at second base which proved to be pivotal in the back-and-forth win over Rice (Feb. 14)
- John Freitag also had two hits over the weekend, most notably a two-run pinch hit single against Rice to give the Wildcats the lead in the ninth inning
- JoJo Montgomery and Brayden Yasuzawa recorded their first career hits on Sunday (Feb. 16) against Michigan
- Out of the bullpen, Jack Chavez allowed only one hit and no runs over 1.2 innings against No. 2 Virginia (Feb. 15) posting his first-career strikeout in the process
- Entering the program's 160th season, the Wildcats return several key players from 2024
- Catcher Jason Neff and infielder Michael Whooley are heavy hitters offensively
- Neff hit nine home runs in 2024, tying for second most among Wildcats, while maintaining a .260 average. He also tied a team-best 43 RBI
- Whooley drew a team-best 32 walks, and finished top-five in hits, doubles, home runs and RBI in 2024
- On the mound, Luke McCollough posted three scoreless appearances last year
- Stephen Turzai and Alec Sachais have returned to anchor the bullpen
- The Wildcats signed a remarkable 13 incoming freshmen for the 2025 season, the most of Head Coach Kevin Mulvey's nine-year tenure
- Of the baker's dozen of newcomers, three have PerfectGame.org ratings of 8.0 or higher: Brayden Leonard (8.5), JP Podgorski (8.0) and Ben Pew (8.5)
- The Wildcats were projected to finish seventh in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' poll after closing the 2024 season in fifth place
LAST TIME OUT
- Koby Kropf drilled a two-run home run as Winthrop dropped a narrow contest to South Carolina at home Tuesday afternoon by a final score of 5-3
A LOOK BACK AT 2024
- The Eagles finished the 2024 season with a 19-29-1 (8-15 Big South) record
- Hernandez and Sarna were both named to the Big South All-Freshman Team
- The Sacramento Athletics in the 13th round selected Riley Huge in the MLB Draft
- Overall, Huge marks the 37th Eagle in history to be selected in the MLB Draft
- This was the second straight year that a Winthrop baseball player was drafted
- Winthrop also earned the Team Academic Excellence Award from the ABCA for the fifth consecutive year
- Winthrop finished last season having recorded the most strikeouts in nine inning games in a single season in program history (9.60 over 413.1 IP)
- Winthrop also finished last season sixth in a single season in program history with 440 strikeouts
- Against Davidson on Apr. 16, 2024, Winthrop set a new team single-game record for most times hit by pitch with seven
- In a minimum of 500 chances, Chronis is currently tied for fourth in school history with a .989 fielding percentage
- He also finished last season tied for fifth in school history in most times hit by pitch in a single season with 12
- Chronis led the team in putouts last season with 275 and total chances with 306
- He was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. Chronis started in 33 of 44 games played, batting in a season-high two runs vs. Radford on May 5
- Joey Hylinski led the team in lowest ERA last season with 2.35
WINTHROP AT A GLANCE IN 2025
- Winthrop enters 2025 predicted to finish sixth in the Big South Conference
- In his first season at the helm of the program is Mike McGuire
- McGuire is just the fourth head coach in program history
- His career record is 480-357-1 in 16 years as a head coach
- McGuire returns to the Winthrop baseball program after serving as head coach at USC Upstate the last five seasons. This marks McGuire's third stint with the Eagle program as he spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach from 1997-2002 and again in 2006-11
- The Eagles also welcome back 13 players, 11 of them starters and 27 newcomers, all either freshman or transfers
- The program has a record of 1,384-1,001-7
- Winthrop is 873-398-4 all-time at home
- Winthrop is 483-366 all-time in conference play, the winningest record in conference history
- Winthrop is 28-17 all-time in season openers
- Kropf and Sarna were voted to the Big South Conference Preseason All-Conference Team
- Kropf was selected as part of D1Baseball's Top 100 Outfielders entering the 2025 season, slotting Kropf as the 26-best in the country
- Kropf started all 60 games for conference rival USC Upstate in 2024, and became just the third player in Big South history with 20 doubles (21) and 20 home runs (20) in a season. He hit .352 overall with 20 homers, 67 runs batted in, a .704 slugging clip, 81 hits and 56 runs scored. Kropf also drew 29 walks and five hit-by-pitch and finished with a .431 on-base percentage. Kropf recorded a career-high five hits versus Presbyterian on April 27, collected a career-high five RBI versus Queens on April 16, and recorded 25 multi-hit and 19 multi-RBI games a season ago
- In Big South contests, Kropf batted .363 with eight home runs, 28 RBI, a .714 slugging average and .463 on-base clip
- Last season at USC Upstate, he earned Second-Team All-Big South honors and was a back-to-back Player of the Week honoree (April 22 and April 29)
- Kropf was named the 2025 Big South Preseason Baseball Player of the Year Kropf is the first Winthrop baseball player to earn Preseason Player of the Year honors since 2007 and the third time overall
- Sarna is coming off a freshman campaign in which he was named to the 2024 Big South Conference All-Freshman Team. He finished 9th in the Big South in overall pitching with an ERA of 4.74. His most notable performances last season were pitching a season-high 6.0 innings vs. Longwood on Mar. 17 and a season-high six strikeouts vs. Maine on Mar. 3
- Sarna ended 2024 having pitched 49.1 innings with a record of 4-4 in 13 games played. He was 2nd on the team in ERA and wins with four. He started nine games, striking out 38 batters, which was good for 4th on the team
- Wilson was named to the initial Watch List for the 20th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball
- Wilson is one of the key relievers to return for the Eagles in 2024. Wilson started in nearly all the 49 games that the Eagles played last season. He started in 45 of 47 games he played in and pitched three games in relief, the only Winthrop offensive player on the season to do so. Wilson pitched a season-high 4.0 innings with 10 strikeouts and one walk at Queens (2/27) and offensively had a season-high five RBI's vs. USC Upstate (4/6). Wilson will also play infield as well
- Wilson was also recognized by D1 Baseball as the #3 top prospect in the Big South Conference
- He tied for the team lead in walks last season with 44
- Hernandez had a terrific freshman season with the Eagles in 2024. He finished tied for 7th in the Big South in doubles with a team-leading 15 doubles; starting in all 45 games he played in, finishing the season with 157 at-bats. He was also tied for the team lead in games started and home runs with seven and led the team in RBI's with 30 and walks with 19. He was named the Big South Freshman of the Week on May 6, which was the first weekly award of his career. A versatile player, Hernandez will DH, play first base and play in the outfield in 2025
2025 SEASON HONORS
- 2025 Big South Preseason Player of the Year/Preseason All-Conference Team
- 2025 Big South Preseason All-Conference Team
- 2025 D1Baseball's Top 100 Outfielders
- 2025 DIBaseball's Big South Preseason Player of the Year
- 2025 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award Initial Watch List And The #3 Pro Prospect By The Big South Conference
- Owen Sarna-Big South Co-Starting Pitcher of the Week
- Sarna allowed one hit and no runs over 5.2 innings to earn the win for Winthrop against Merrimack
- He walked one and struck out nine, a new career-high
- The right-handed sophomore struck out the side in the top of the first inning and the first four batters of the game overall
- He finished with at least one strikeout in every inning, including fanning the final batter he faced in the sixth
- The only hit Sarna allowed was a single to center in the top of the fifth
- Colin Crowley-Big South Freshman of the Week
- Crowley batted .429 (6-14) with seven runs, four RBI and four doubles in Winthrop's three-game sweep of Merrimack
- He posted at least one double and one RBI in all three games and walked once
- The freshman infielder went 3-for-5 with three runs, a double and one RBI in his collegiate debut on Friday
- He added another double and an RBI in the second game of Friday's doubleheader and then capped off the weekend with two doubles, three runs, and two RBI in the final game of the series on Sunday
WATCH THE EAGLES ON ESPN+
Of the 33 home games this season, 22 of them will air live on ESPN+. You can also catch most of the road games in Big South Conference play on ESPN+. To watch Big South games on ESPN+ you must have a subscription to ESPN+. For more information on how to subscribe,
click here.
WHERE TO SHOP
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LOOKING AHEAD
Winthrop hits the road for the first time this year, traveling to Clemson for a mid-week matchup with the Tigers on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 4:00 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
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