Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop opened a three-game series with Villanova at home Friday afternoon with a 10-4 to the Wildcats.
 
KEY CONTRIBUTORS

• Jaylen Hernandez (2-5), 2 RBI, HR)

W: Bobby Olsen (1-0)
L: Quinton Hall (0-1)
S: Alec Sachais (1)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Eagles loaded the bases in the first with two outs after Alan Benhardt drew a walk but Ethan Wilson flew out to right field to end the inning
• In the top of the second, Villanova put runners on the corners after John Freitag's single to left field but on the next play the Wildcat's first chance to get on the board was snuffed out when Brayden Leonard lined into a double play
• Winthrop put runners on second and third after Gabe Natividad's groundout
• Eagles then tacked on the first run when Colin Crowley grounded out but was able to bring Nate Chronis home on the play
• Villanova's Tyler Shaw knotted things up in the top of the third on an RBI groundout with one out, scoring Connor Hale
• With Benhardt at third after an error by the Wildcats, Wilson struck out to end the third
• The visitors missed their next chance to take their first lead of the game in the top of the fourth when Leonard grounded out to end the threat with a runner on third
• With the score tied at 1-1 in the Eagle half of the frame, Jaylen Hernandez's bunt single to third base with two outs drove in Natividad and gave Winthrop the lead
• But it wouldn't last long as Austin Lemon grounded out to once again score Hale and tie the contest at 2-2 in the fifth
• Villanova took the lead for good in the top of the seventh
• Leonard's home run to left field in the top of the seventh put Villanova on top 3-2
• Jason Neff's two-run RBI double to left field extended the lead to three runs
• Aidan Barry's double to left center capped off the rally and gave the Wildcats a 6-2 margin
• Both of the doubles occurred with two outs
• In the bottom of the stanza, Hernandez cut the deficit to three with a leadoff solo bomb to right field
• The visitors took the lead up to five on RBI single's by Hale and Lemon
• Crowley made it a four-run game again in the bottom of the eighth on a sac fly with one out, scoring Chronis
• Neff led off the ninth inning by homering to left center field to make the score 9-4
• Leonard's RBI single to left field with two outs extended the lead to six, driving in Shane Solari to end the scoring for the day

TEAM TIDBITS

• Winthrop moves to 1,384-1,002-7 all-time as a program
• Winthrop moves to 873-399-4 all-time at home

ON DECK
Winthrop plays Villanova in the second game of the series tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m.