Baseball relinquishes three games

By Jeff Brodeur
brodeurj@mytjnow.com

The Winthrop Eagles stumbled out of the gate, dropping all three games against powerhouses Kent State and ninth ranked Georgia Tech by a combined score of 21-6.

While the struggles were expected against such fierce competition, the Eagles looked severely overmatched on Friday’s opening day game against the Yellow Jackets. Winthrop managed just one hit against Georgia Tech pitching in a 5-0 shutout to kick off the new season.

Junior Matt Pierpont took the loss, giving up two earned runs on four hits, while striking out six batters in seven innings. Both of Pierpont’s earned runs came in the first inning on two hits and a wild pitch. After that, the junior settled in, throwing six scoreless innings and at one point, retired eight Yellow Jackets in a row.

“The positive to take from tonight was our pitching,” said head coach Tom Riginos. “Matt competed, and that’s what you’re going to get out of him. If we make a few plays behind him, it may have been a different game.”

The remainder of the scoring came in the seventh and eighth innings when Georgia Tech scored three runs on three competed, and that’s what you’re going to get out of him. If we make a few plays behind him, it may have been a different game.”

The remainder of the scoring came in the seventh and eighth innings when Georgia Tech scored three runs on three Winthrop errors to extend the lead to 5-0. The Eagles had a total of five errors on the night.

“The whole key is when you’re playing a team like Georgia Tech you can’t give them five extra outs,” said Riginos. “That really hurt us.”

Freshman Patrick McClendon recorded the only hit of the night for the Eagles.

In their second game on Saturday, the Eagles did not fare much better. Starting pitcher Eric Ruth gave up eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits in just four innings of work in an 11-3 rout at the hands of Kent State.

The Golden Flashes made their move in the second inning, scoring seven runs on seven hits to take the early 7-0 lead. The Eagles, however, made a case for a comeback, scoring three runs in the third thanks to a Matt Lobacz RBI single and a pair of Kent State errors.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, that was all the offense they would produce for the remainder of the game. Kent State continued to tee off against Winthrop pitching, adding runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings in the 11-3 affair.

The Eagles also failed to address the defensive woes that plagued them in the first game, committing five more errors in game two.

In the final game of the weekend, Winthrop had a chance to redeem themselves against Georgia Tech in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

“The biggest thing we talked about after the first game [against Kent State] is that we have to be more competitive and play with a little bit more energy,” said Riginos. “I thought we had more energy and were competitive against Georgia Tech.”

The Eagles showed signs of life in the rematch, both offensively and defensively. Despite giving up a run in the first two innings, Riginos’ team responded, bringing the game to a 2-2 tie in the third. Both teams settled down, keeping their opponents scoreless up until the seventh inning.

Gerogia Tech’s Mitch Earnest and Brandon Thomas combined for three runs batted in (RBI) in the seventh and eighth, giving the Yellow Jackets a 5-2 lead heading into the final frame. Sophomore pitcher Zane Evans kept the Eagles offense in check, earning the save and handing Winthrop their third loss in two days. Despite the loss, there was a dramatic improvement versus the previous two games. The offense was noticeably better, including sophomore TJ Olesczuk who went 4-4 in the final game of the Coca-Cola Classic. The defense was also error-free after posting 10 errors in the first two games.

The Winthrop Eagles will continue their non-conference schedule as they head to Athens, Ga. to take on the Georgia Bulldogs after a single game series against Western Carolina.