Winthrop completes baseball sweep of Liberty

Mark Lowrie and Anthony Paulsen homered as Winthrop completed their second series’ sweep of the season when they defeated the Liberty Flames 6-4 Sunday at the Winthrop Ballpark. The Flames hadn’t been swept since April 6-8, 2013 at Coastal Carolina.

The homers backed starting pitcher Thad Harris (2-2), who went seven innings with four strikeouts.

For the first time in the series, Liberty got on the board first when Andrew Yacyk hit a solo homer to left field in the first inning.

The Eagles (16-12, 4-2) quickly responded with two runs off at the bottom of the frame. Tyler Asbill led off with a single to right and was sent home when Anthony Paulsen singled to center. Paulsen then scored on a Roger Gonzalez double to right field for the 2-1 lead.

Winthrop added another in the third when Paulsen hit a solo shot to right for his third home run of the season.

The Flames (16-14, 3-3) knotted the score with two runs on three hits in the fifth before taking a 4-3 lead in seventh when Jack Morris singled to right field scoring Austin Bream.

Eagles first baseman Mark Lowrie tied the game at 4 with another solo home run in the seventh. Jace Whitley followed with a single to right field. and scored on a Kyle Edwards single. Edwards then scored on a Brandon Fite groundout for the 6-4 lead.

Liberty scored one run in the ninth but couldn’t overtake Winthrop.

Winthrop will return to action when they “host” the Charlotte 49ers at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte Tuesday at 6:05 p.m.

This story was originally published April 3, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Winthrop completes baseball sweep of Liberty."