University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Winthrop vs. Radford
05.22.2009 | Baseball
 |
#2 Winthrop Eliminates #4 Radford |  |
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Winthrop scored a Big South tournament game record 21 runs and Bryn Henderson had seven RBI to lead the No. 2-seeded Eagles to a 21-3 victory over No. 4 seed Radford in game 8 of the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Baseball Championship, May 22 at historic McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C. With the victory, Winthrop improves to 34-24 and advances to Saturday's Championship round, where it will play either No. 1 Coastal Carolina or No. 3 Liberty at 1:00pm. Radford is eliminated from the tournament and ends its season at 26-24.
Alex Gregory gave Radford the first lead of the game when he singled home Matt Hillsinger with two outs in the top of the first inning to put the Highlanders up 1-0.
Winthrop erupted in the second inning with five runs to move ahead 5-1. Matt Thielepape singled to center and was sacrificed to second by John Murrian. Sean Sullivan reached on an infield single and Thielepape moved to third on a throwing error. With runners on the corners, Tyler McBride singled home Thielepape to tie the game. Cam Walters loaded the bases with a single to right, and Kevin Nolan's fielder's choice scored Sullivan. With runners on second and third, Henderson delivered a two-run single to make the score 4-1. Eddie Tisdale doubled home Henderson for the 5-1 advantage.
The Eagles added three runs in the third inning to take a comfortable 8-1 lead. But Radford trimmed the deficit with two runs in the fifth frame. The Highlanders loaded the bases on a Reggie Keen double, an Alex Gregory hit-by-pitch and Robert Lamas' sharp single off the foot of Winthrop pitcher Wade Newman. Rick Hoogstraten then connected on a double to the gap in right-center field to plate Keen and Gregory that made the score 8-3.
Winthrop crossed the plate 13 times in its final four innings at bat to surpass the tournament game record of 20 runs, which had been accomplished four previous times. Highlighting Winthrop's production was a three-run home run by Henderson in the sixth inning, McBride's first homer of the season in the seventh, and Henderson's second round-tripper of the game in the eighth.
Henderson was 5-6 with five runs scored to lead Winthrop's 26-hit attack. Nolan added four hits and four runs scored, while Tisdale, Thielepape and Sullivan collected three hits. Brett Mollenhauer had two hits for Radford, and Hoogstraten knocked in two runs. Newman improved to 7-4 on the season with the win after allowing three runs in seven innings pitched. Abram Williams was tagged with the loss for Radford.
The 18-run margin of victory for Winthrop tied the Big South tournament game record, first set by Coastal Carolina in a 20-2 win over Winthrop in 1986.
Winthrop Head Coach Joe Hudak
“I'm proud of my guys. We came ready to play and hit the ball well today. Wade Newman pitched really well today. He gave us a good outing ? we needed it. It was a great offensive show. We are happy to be playing tomorrow.”
Radford Head Coach Joe Raccuia
“Winthrop deserved the W today, no doubt about it. And there are no excuses for the way we played. We had nothing left in the tank, and we were so banged up. But we never quit. We took a step forward as a program, and this group of seniors helped us turn the corner in Radford baseball.”
