Winthrop lacrosse victorious; softball, baseball teams fall

Winthrop falls to Campbell in series

Winthrop softball dropped both games of a doubleheader Saturday with losses of 10-6 and 9-2 to visiting Campbell at Terry Field.

The Eagles are now 20-20 overall and 6-5 in the Big South while Campbell improves to 23-20 overall and 8-4 in the league. Winthrop will step away from Big South play Tuesday when it hosts Furman in a doubleheader at 4 p.m.

In the first game, Campbell pushed four across in the fourth courtesy of fielding miscues by the Eagles.

Amber Schisler made it 5-0 in the fifth inning as she took the first pitch over the fence in center for her 12th of the season.

After cutting into the lead with a run in the fifth as Paige Haley drove home Tara Loken at third on a ground out. However, Campbell added five runs in the top of the sixth highlighted by a two-run triple from Madison Herring to right and a two-run single by Melissa Tullar to center.

The Eagles tried to chip away at the lead as they scored five runs over the final two innings. Leah Young provided an RBI double followed by a two-run home run by Madyson Watson, the first of her career. Winthrop added two more runs in the seventh as Maddie Antone hit a two-run homer to left center. That was Antone’s fourth home run of the season and 18th of her career.

Keleigh Romine suffered the loss in the circle after allowing five runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in five innings and is now 3-5 on the year.

In the second game the Camels jumped out to a 4-0 lead with three runs in the first and another in the second. That lead grew to 7-0 in the fourth before the Eagles dug into deficit with two runs in the fifth. Antone drove in the first run with an RBI single and then Ashley Westbrooks drove home Haley with an RBI single to center. Young reached on an error to load the bases with two outs and Watson hammered a shot to left, but right at the left fielder for the third out.

Kiley Majette took the loss in the circle as she allowed seven runs (five earned) on eight hits with five walks and two strikeouts to fall to 11-11 on the year.

Antone finished the day with five hits and two RBI while Young, Shayna Covington and Madison Templeton all had two hits.

On Friday, Winthrop allowed seven runs over the final three innings as it fell 7-1 to Campbell in the opening game of the three-game series.

Eagles suffer losses, despite big homeruns

Presbyterian College broke open a tie game with five runs in the top of the 10th inning and went on to claim a 9-5 Big South Conference win over Winthrop on Saturday at The Winthrop Ballpark.

Winthrop's second straight loss to the Blue Hose drops the Eagles to 16-15 overall and 5-3 in Big South action while PC improves to 17-16 and 5-3 in conference play. The Eagles will look to salvage the final game in the series when they face PC at 2 p.m. Sunday.

PC opened the 10th inning by drawing back-to-back walks before Colton Chapman broke the 4-4 tie with a triple to left center to plate two runs. Chapman scored on a single by T.J. Richardson, who eventually came around to score on a single by Auckland. Winthrop got one of the runs back in the bottom of the tenth on a solo home run by sophomore Brandon Fite.

The loss spoiled a three-home run day for the Eagles. Senior Anthony Paulsen led the Eagles at the plate with a 2 for 5 day, including a solo home run to right field, while, sophomore Hunter Lipscomb was 2 for 4 with a two-run homer to right, and the solo shot by Fite.

Winthrop junior Riley Arnone (2-2) suffered the loss in relief as allowed two runs on two hits in three innings. Blue Hose Ryan Hedrick (2-2) earned the win as he also pitched three innings, allowed two runs on four hits.

The Eagles got on the board in the bottom of the second when Lipscomb singled to right, advanced to second on a wild pitch by PC starter Tanner Chock, and scored on a single by sophomore Grant English. PC tied the game in the top of the fifth when Nick Guimbarda connected for solo home run to right field. The Blue Hose took the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth on a double by A.J. Priaulx which scored Cletis Avery from first and Tyler Weyenberg from second.

Winthrop tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on Lipscomb's two-run homer that scored junior Mitch Spires, who reached base after being hit by a pitch. The Blue Hose reclaimed the lead with one run in the top of the seventh. Connor Slagill singles, advanced to second on a passed ball, went to third by a balk by Pawelczyk, and scored on a single to center field by Brett Auckland.

Paulsen tied the game once again with a solo HR in the bottom of the eighth.

Winthrop was shutout by Presbyterian College 5-0 on Friday in the opener of the three-game Big South Conference series.

Lacrosse team picks up victory

The Winthrop lacrosse team picked up its first conference victory of the season Saturday, downing the Radford Highlanders 18-9 and snapping a four-game losing skid.

The Eagles improved to 4-9 overall and 1-2 in the Big South while Radford fell to 5-7 overall and 1-2 in the conference. Winthrop continues conference play at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Presbyterian.

Radford got off to a quick start, netting the game’s first goal less than a minute into the contest. Winthrop responded, scoring the next three goals to go up 3-1 with 20 minutes on the clock.

The Highlanders grabbed the next goal to get within one before the Eagles rattled off seven straight goals to take a commanding 10-2 lead with 10:24 remaining in the first half. Each side found the net twice in the final 10 minutes and the Eagles took a 12-4 lead into the break.

In a fairly even second half, the two teams traded the first six goals of the half as the Eagles held onto a 15-7 lead with just under 14 minutes remaining. The Eagles then scored three straight to increase their lead to 18-7 with six minutes on the clock. Radford was able to net two goals in the final five minutes to reach the 18-9 final.

Nicole Beatson led the Eagles with seven points on five goals and two assists. Katie Clark and Katherine Judge each tallied four goals while Ellie Marindin had four points on two goals and two assists. Judge led Winthrop with seven draw controls and five caused turnovers and Caroline Boudreau led the team with four ground balls. Goalie Chloe Wormsley finished with five saves in the victory.

Winthrop dominated the Highlanders in the hustle categories, winning draw controls 18-11 and ground balls 24-15. The Eagles finished with 43 shots and went 4-for-8 on free-position attempts. Winthrop also forced 19 Radford turnovers.

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Winthrop lacrosse victorious; softball, baseball teams fall."