Eagles baseball late rally not enough Friday
The Winthrop Eagles baseball team dropped Game 1 of the weekend series 5-4 to the Alabama State Hornets Friday night at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
Winthrop gave up an early 3-0 lead to the Hornets in the first inning allowing three hits, one of which was a two run homer.
After Alabama State’s bullpen loaded the bases in the top of the 7th with three walks, the Eagles’ Roger Gonzalez hit a two-run RBI to cut the lead to 3-2.
The Hornets padded their lead with two hits in the bottom of the 7th to make it 4-2.
In the top of the eight, Winthrop once again cut into the deficit when Mitch Spires scored off of a Tyler Asbill single. Babe Thomas singled the next at bat sending Matthew Mulkey home to tie the game at 4-4.
Alabama State reclaimed the lead at 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th off of two hits.
The Eagles failed to produce anything in the ninth, ending the game at a 5-4 final.
Winthrop’s lefty Matt Crohan pitched seven innings giving up four runs off of seven hits. He struck out eight batters. Gonzalez continued to stay hot at the plate going 3 for 5 on the night. Spires was 2 for 4.
The Eagles, 4-2, will play Game 2 of the series Saturday beginning at 4 p.m. in Montgomery, Ala.
Softball: Winthrop softball opened day one of the Winthrop/adidas Tournament with an 8-3 win over Brown followed by a 4-2 victory over Towson, Saturday afternoon on Terry Field.
Winthrop has now won 12 straight home games dating back to 2015 and improves to 5-7 on the year. The Eagles will be back in action to finish off their weekend schedule on Saturday as they face Rider at 3 p.m. and Canisius College at 5 p.m.
“To get two wins today was really big for us,” said Winthrop co-head coach Mark Cooke. “We played two quality, well coached teams. Very athletic teams. I was very proud of the way our kids competed and we did the things we needed to do in order to win both games. We had a couple hits in the first game with two outs, we were able to draw walks with the bases loaded and full counts. I thought we played really well today, considering we’ve played some great competition. These teams we played today, Brown and Towson are quality ball clubs.”
Winthrop scored six runs over the final three innings to pull out the five-run win over Brown in the opening game of the day. Winthrop took advantage of what should have been the third out of the fourth inning when the ball popped out of the glove of second baseman Sofia Venegas as she was under the pop out from Kim Ryder to put runners at the corners. Zharne Glover stepped up and delivered a two-run double to left field as she ripped the ball past the shortstop and a diving left fielder as the ball rolled to the fence. Morgan Lowers made it 5-2 when she ripped a ball through the right side, scoring Glover.
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the third, Winthrop answered in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game. It all happened with two outs as freshman Morgan Lowers, who reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second to get into scoring position. Paige Haley roped a shot through the right side to put runners at the corners. Lowers then scored on a passed ball as Haley moved to second. Leah Young struck out on an 0-2 pitch in the dirt for what have been a third out but the ball bounced in the dirt and got away as Young raced down to first to beat the throw. As the pitch got away from the catcher, Haley moved to third and then came around to score on the throw to first in an effort to get Young.
The Bears had snagged the lead with sacrifice fly by Yeram Park in the second and a two-out RBI single up the middle by Janet Leung.
Megan Winningham, who played in her first game of the season after missing nearly all of last season with an injury, provided some insurance in the sixth inning with a two-run single to center. That hit followed an RBI single from Haley. Haley and Young each scored on the Winningham single.
Keleigh Romine tossed four innings of relief allowing one unearned run on one hit with a walk and three strikeouts to earn her first collegiate win in the circle. Kiley Majette started the game as she allowed two runs on four hits in three innings to get the no decision.
Blake Wallert extended her streak of reaching base to seven straight games with a hit in the sixth inning. Haley finished the game tying her career-best in hits with three while Winningham and Glover each had two hits.
Brown’s Leah Nakashima took the loss in the circle after allowing eight runs (three earned) on 12 hits with a walk and four strikeouts in a complete game effort.
The day ended with a late rally for the 4-2 win over Towson as the Eagles scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Haley started the rally with a leadoff single followed by a single from Young to put runners at the corners. Winningham loaded the bases when she reached on an infield single. Freshman Blake Wallert plated the first run with a grounder to second as Haley beat the throw home, keeping the bases loaded with no outs. Romine was called upon to pinch-hit and she drew a walk on a full count to tie the game. Two batters later, Ryder walked to bring in the go-ahead run and Morgan Lowers followed with an RBI single for the 4-2 advantage.
Towson grabbed the lead with a run in the second and a run in the third inning. From that point Dallas King got stronger as the game went on and she finished tossing a complete game allowing the two runs on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts to improve to 3-3 on the year. Haley, Young and Winningham each finished with two hits.
On the day, Haley had five hits while Winningham finished with four and two RBI.
This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 10:27 PM with the headline "Eagles baseball late rally not enough Friday."