University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Saturday, April 10
Rock Hill, SC
1 p.m.
UNC Asheville
10-16, 0
8
at
10
Winthrop
9-13, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
UNC ASHEVILLE
3
0
1
0
2
1
1
0
0
8
12
2
Winthrop
3
1
2
2
0
0
1
1
X
10
18
0
Lankford Breaks Home Run Record; Bulldogs Fall to Winthrop, 10-8
04.10.2021 | Baseball
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Senior Brandon Lankford became the UNC Asheville baseball team's all-time home run leader with his 43rd home run in a Bulldog uniform on Saturday, but the Bulldogs ultimately fell in the contest at Winthrop by a score of 10-8.
There was no shortage of offense in Saturday's contest as the two teams combined for 18 runs and 30 hits. Dominic Freeberger got things started for Asheville in the top of the first with a one-out single. Lankford followed and hit his record-breaking home run to right field to give the Bulldogs an early 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Wade Chandler would drive in MJ Lucas to make it 3-0 Bulldogs in the middle of the first.
Winthrop would promptly answer in its half of the first, scoring three runs on four hits to tie the game at three. The Eagle offense kept clicking after the first, scoring once in the second, two in the third, and two in the fourth to take an 8-4 lead into the middle innings.
Facing its most significant deficit of the series, the Bulldogs kept battling. Chandler and Kohl Abrams notched RBI singles in the fifth to get Asheville back within two, 8-6. Easton Jones, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter, would drive in another with a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it 8-7. Grayson Preslar finished off the Bulldog rally with a leadoff pinch-hit solo home run in the seventh to tie the score once again, 8-8.
Much like it did way back in the first inning, Winthrop answered promptly in its half of the seventh. A leadoff triple got things started, and then an RBI single followed to give Winthrop the lead back at 9-8. The Eagles tacked on another run in the eighth that scored on an Asheville error to bring the score to 10-8, which proved to be the final score.
Today's Takeaways
There was no shortage of offense in Saturday's contest as the two teams combined for 18 runs and 30 hits. Dominic Freeberger got things started for Asheville in the top of the first with a one-out single. Lankford followed and hit his record-breaking home run to right field to give the Bulldogs an early 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Wade Chandler would drive in MJ Lucas to make it 3-0 Bulldogs in the middle of the first.
Winthrop would promptly answer in its half of the first, scoring three runs on four hits to tie the game at three. The Eagle offense kept clicking after the first, scoring once in the second, two in the third, and two in the fourth to take an 8-4 lead into the middle innings.
Facing its most significant deficit of the series, the Bulldogs kept battling. Chandler and Kohl Abrams notched RBI singles in the fifth to get Asheville back within two, 8-6. Easton Jones, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter, would drive in another with a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it 8-7. Grayson Preslar finished off the Bulldog rally with a leadoff pinch-hit solo home run in the seventh to tie the score once again, 8-8.
Much like it did way back in the first inning, Winthrop answered promptly in its half of the seventh. A leadoff triple got things started, and then an RBI single followed to give Winthrop the lead back at 9-8. The Eagles tacked on another run in the eighth that scored on an Asheville error to bring the score to 10-8, which proved to be the final score.
Today's Takeaways
- Lankford's 43rd career home run broke Asheville's all-time home run record previously held by Brian Shehan (1987-90) and his 42 career home runs. Lankford has been on a tear recently, homering in four of his last six games. With his recent power surge, Lankford currently leads the conference with eight home runs.
- Freeberger capped off his stellar weekend at Winthrop with a 2-for-5 day with two runs scored. Overall, the Baltimore native finished the series with 11 hits in 16 at-bats (.688 average) with nine runs scored, two home runs, and six RBI.
- Lucas was Asheville's iron man catching all 21 innings of the series. Lucas, who has started the last six games behind the plate, did it with the bat too, hitting .364 with six runs scored, one home run, and three RBI for the series.
- Chandler also capped his weekend with another multi-hit outing Saturday going 2-for-5. Since making his first start of the season last week vs. Presbyterian, Chandler has four multi-hit games and is hitting .391 with five runs scored and three RBI.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: RENDON, Colten (2-1)
L: Perez, JP (0-1)
Batting:
3B: Dunn, Sebastian 1
HR: Lankford, Brandon 1 ; Preslar, Grayson 1
RBI: Lankford, Brandon 2 ; Jones, Easton 1 ; Dunn, Sebastian 1 ; Chandler, Wade 2 ; Abrams, Kohl 1 ; Preslar, Grayson 1
SF: Jones, Easton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Freeberger, Dominic 2 ; Lankford, Brandon 1 ; Jones, Easton 1 ; Lucas, MJ 3 ; Preslar, Grayson 1
SB: Lankford, Brandon 1
HBP: Kaufman, Ty 1
Batting:
2B: SZVETITZ, Joseph 1 ; BAKER, Tyler 1
3B: SZVETITZ, Joseph 1
HR: MORTON, Dillon 1
RBI: MCFALLS, Scout 1 ; YANKLE, Spencer 1 ; MORTON, Dillon 3 ; HOOKS, Ty 1 ; STRAUSS, Jonathan 1 ; BAKER, Tyler 2
SF: YANKLE, Spencer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HANNUM, Luke 1 ; TEPPER, Joey 2 ; YANKLE, Spencer 1 ; MORTON, Dillon 2 ; HOOKS, Ty 1 ; SZVETITZ, Joseph 2 ; BAKER, Tyler 1
SB: BAKER, Tyler 1
PO: MCFALLS, Scout 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF
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1B
/ BaseballINF
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