Radford, Va. – Winthrop continued Big South play with a late loss to Radford in the series opener on the road Friday evening.
 
KEY CONTRIBUTORS

• Gabe Natividad (3-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B)
• Josh Skowronski (3-4, R, 2 RBI)
• Ethan Wilson (2-5, R, RBI)

W: Andrew Steinhaus (3-5)
L: Ben Rehkow (1-2)
S: N/A

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Eagles started out with a 3-0 lead in the top of the first with the highlight of the frame being Skowronksi's RBI single down the right field line to drive in Hernandez with two outs to make the score 2-0
• Radford trimmed the lead to one in their half of the second on a two-run RBI single to left field by Self with two outs
• The Highlanders then scored four runs in the next stanza to take a 6-3 lead
• Winthrop began to fight back in the fifth as Skowronski's RBI single to right field with two outs cut the margin to two
• But a homer by Nace with one out in the bottom of the sixth restored Radford's lead to three
• Eagles cut it to one in the eighth on Natividad's two-run RBI single with two out and then on the next play Jaylen Hernandez's double to left center field brought in Natividad and tied the game at 8-8
• A homer by the Highlanders in their half of the frame put them back in the lead only to have E. Wilson's clutch single through the right side with two outs once again the score in the ninth
• But Kehoe's walk-off single down the right field line with one out won the game for the Highlanders in the bottom of the ninth

TEAM TIDBITS

• Winthrop moves to 1,408-1,023-7 all-time as a program
• Winthrop moves to 494-374 all-time in conference play
• This was Winthrop's 50^th game of the season with five regular-season games remaining

ON DECK
Winthrop plays Radford in game two of the series at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow evening on ESPN+.