Rock Hill, S.C. –
Jaylen Hernandez came within a double of hitting for the cycle as the Eagles swept the series with Wagner at home by a final score of 10-2 Sunday afternoon.
KEY CONTRIBUTORS
W:
Shane Keup (1-0)
L: Keith Davis (1-1)
S: N/A
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The visitors from Staten Island got on the board first in the top of the first on an RBI single to right center field by Nicholas Mazzotta with no one out, scoring Lukas Torres and giving Wagner a 1-0 lead
- Wagner got guys on second and third with two outs after a wild pitch, but Mateo Matthews popped out to end the top of the third
- In the Eagle half of the third, Winthrop took a 2-1 lead on Jaylen Hernandez's RBI triple to center field with one out and Cole Yearsley's sac bunt two plays later
- Wagner threatened to tie it in the fourth with a guy on third but Jake Griess fouled out to end the stanza
- Koby Kropf hit a bases clearing double to center field in the bottom of the inning to extend Winthrop's lead to four
- In the fifth the Eagles tacked on two more runs on Colin Crowley's RBI groundout and Alan Benhardt coming in to score on a wild pitch
- Matthews homered to right field led off in the sixth to cut the deficit to 7-2
- But Winthrop answered right back, first homering to right field with one out to take the Winthrop lead back up to six
- His homer put him a double away from hitting for the cycle
- On the next play, Kropf homered down the left field to make it a seven-run lead
- Benhardt capped off the inning with an RBI single to right field to drive in Josh Skowronski
- With Mazzotta on third, Matthews struck out to end the top of the seventh
- The same situation happened again for the Seahawks in the next inning, this time with Bryce Phelps on third base
- Matt Sutera struck out to end the frame
TEAM TIDBITS
- Winthrop moves to 1,388-1,004-7 all-time as a program
- Winthrop moves to 877-400-4 all-time at home
- Hernandez came within a double of hitting for the cycle
ON DECK
Winthrop gets back on the road next week, taking on Oklahoma State on consecutive days on Tuesday, Mar. 4 and Wednesday, Mar. 5. Both games will take place at 5:00 p.m. EST and will be streamed on ESPN+.
