Winthrop baseball: Ninth inning dooms Eagles against Clemson

The Winthrop Eagles’ baseball squad fell to the No. 20 ranked Clemson Tigers 4-3 at the Doug Kingsmore Stadium Wednesday afternoon. After coaching at Clemson from 2003-2010, skipper Tom Riginos is now 2-3 against his former squad.

With the loss, Winthrop falls to 7-6 on the year while Clemson is now 9-2.

The Eagles struck first in the top of the first inning when catcher Roger Gonzalez sent left fielder Tyler Asbill home on a sacrifice fly to right field.

Both pitching staffs held strong until the top of the fifth when Winthrop was able to add another two runs to its lead. After consecutive singles from Jace Whitley and Mark Lowrie, Brandon Fite advanced both base runners with a sacrifice bunt. Whitley then scored on a wild pitch and Lowrie advanced to third. Asbill executed another sacrifice bunt for the Eagles, sending Lowrie home for the 3-0 lead.

Clemson responded in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded, lefty Riley Arnone hit the Tigers’ Chris Okey, which advanced a Clemson base runner to home.

The Tigers continued to rally in the bottom of the ninth. Seth Beer hit a deep double to center field, driving in two Clemson base runners to tie the game at 3. Moments later Robert Jolly knocked in the winning run with a hard hit ball down the left field line.

Winthrop starting right-hander Thad Harris went three innings while only allowing two hits. Zach Cook took the loss after pitching four innings, allowing three runs on four hits, and striking out four .

Winthrop returns home for a three-game weekend series against Miami (OH). Game 1 is scheduled for Friday at the Winthrop Ballpark beginning at 4 p.m.

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Winthrop baseball: Ninth inning dooms Eagles against Clemson."