University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Friday, April 9
Rock Hill, SC
2 p.m.
UNC Asheville
9-15, 0
12
at
7
Winthrop
8-12, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
UNC ASHEVILLE
0
5
0
2
0
0
2
3
0
0
12
11
1
Winthrop
3
0
0
2
1
0
1
0
0
X
7
11
1
Photo by: Mark Godin
Freeberger’s Career Day Fuels Asheville’s Doubleheader Sweep of Winthrop
04.09.2021 | Baseball
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team swept a doubleheader at Winthrop on Friday, winning by scores of 12-7 and 11-3. Leading the way was Dominic Freeberger, who finished the doubleheader with nine hits in 11-at bats (.818 batting average), seven runs scored, a stolen base, two home runs, six RBI, and picked up the save in the game one victory.
Game One Recap – Winthrop jumped out to an early lead on the Bulldogs in the first game of the day, scoring three runs in the first. Facing an early 3-0 deficit, the Bulldogs answered back in the second. After MJ Lucas reached on an error, Wade Chandler and Grayson Preslar each worked walks before Ty Kaufman drove in Lucas and Chandler with a single. Freeberger was next up and connected for a three-run home run to put the Bulldogs on top, 5-2.
Asheville would score twice in the fourth and seventh innings, but Winthrop kept battling and still trailed by just two headed to the eighth. Senior Brandon Lankford would give the Bulldogs some more breathing room as he slugged his conference-leading seventh home run over the leftfield wall with two men on to extend Asheville's advantage to 12-7. Lankford tied the program's all-time home run record with his eighth-inning home run record as that was his 42nd home run in a Bulldog uniform, matching Brian Shehan's (1987-90) record that has stood for three decades.
Even with the added breathing room provided by Lankford's home run, Winthrop was still able to mount a rally in the ninth. The Eagles loaded the bases with one out, which brought the tying run to the on-deck circle. With a potential big inning looming, the Bulldogs gave the ball to Freeberger to close things out. Freeberger induced a flyout and picked up a strikeout to get the Bulldogs out of the jam and the victory, 12-7.
On the mound, the Bulldogs used five pitchers to get through game one. Justin Honeycutt, who picked up the win to improve to 3-0 this season, had the longest appearance lasting 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits to go with two strikeouts. For his efforts in the ninth, Freeberger was credited with the save, his second on the 2021 season.
Game Two Recap – The second game of the day was much more of a pitchers' duel early on. Asheville starter Jacob Edwards did well in keeping Winthrop's offense off-balance as he worked the first five innings, allowing two runs, and struck out a season-high seven hitters.
With Edwards pitching well, the Bulldog offense continued its success against the Winthrop pitching staff in game two. Asheville scored one in the third, two in the fifth, three in the seventh, one in the eighth, and four more in the ninth for a total of 11 runs. It marks the third time in the last five games the Bulldogs have scored seven or more runs.
Freeberger finished game two going 5-for-6 with four runs scored, one home run, and two RBI. Asheville finished the day with a season-high 17 hits, and five different players had multi-hit performances in the contest.
The 11 runs of support were more than enough for the Bulldog pitching staff. Following Edwards' departure in the sixth, six Bulldog relievers combined to hold the Eagle offense to two hits and one run over the final four innings. Edwards picked up his second victory for his outing in game two boosting his record to 2-4.
Things to Note from Friday
Game One Recap – Winthrop jumped out to an early lead on the Bulldogs in the first game of the day, scoring three runs in the first. Facing an early 3-0 deficit, the Bulldogs answered back in the second. After MJ Lucas reached on an error, Wade Chandler and Grayson Preslar each worked walks before Ty Kaufman drove in Lucas and Chandler with a single. Freeberger was next up and connected for a three-run home run to put the Bulldogs on top, 5-2.
Asheville would score twice in the fourth and seventh innings, but Winthrop kept battling and still trailed by just two headed to the eighth. Senior Brandon Lankford would give the Bulldogs some more breathing room as he slugged his conference-leading seventh home run over the leftfield wall with two men on to extend Asheville's advantage to 12-7. Lankford tied the program's all-time home run record with his eighth-inning home run record as that was his 42nd home run in a Bulldog uniform, matching Brian Shehan's (1987-90) record that has stood for three decades.
Even with the added breathing room provided by Lankford's home run, Winthrop was still able to mount a rally in the ninth. The Eagles loaded the bases with one out, which brought the tying run to the on-deck circle. With a potential big inning looming, the Bulldogs gave the ball to Freeberger to close things out. Freeberger induced a flyout and picked up a strikeout to get the Bulldogs out of the jam and the victory, 12-7.
On the mound, the Bulldogs used five pitchers to get through game one. Justin Honeycutt, who picked up the win to improve to 3-0 this season, had the longest appearance lasting 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits to go with two strikeouts. For his efforts in the ninth, Freeberger was credited with the save, his second on the 2021 season.
Game Two Recap – The second game of the day was much more of a pitchers' duel early on. Asheville starter Jacob Edwards did well in keeping Winthrop's offense off-balance as he worked the first five innings, allowing two runs, and struck out a season-high seven hitters.
With Edwards pitching well, the Bulldog offense continued its success against the Winthrop pitching staff in game two. Asheville scored one in the third, two in the fifth, three in the seventh, one in the eighth, and four more in the ninth for a total of 11 runs. It marks the third time in the last five games the Bulldogs have scored seven or more runs.
Freeberger finished game two going 5-for-6 with four runs scored, one home run, and two RBI. Asheville finished the day with a season-high 17 hits, and five different players had multi-hit performances in the contest.
The 11 runs of support were more than enough for the Bulldog pitching staff. Following Edwards' departure in the sixth, six Bulldog relievers combined to hold the Eagle offense to two hits and one run over the final four innings. Edwards picked up his second victory for his outing in game two boosting his record to 2-4.
Things to Note from Friday
- Freeberger's day will be remembered for quite a while after collecting nine hits. His five hits in game two are the most in a game by a Bulldog since March 9, 2019, when Danny Wilson had five hits vs. Georgia Southern. Thanks to his outing today, Freeberger's batting average went up 58 points from .266 to .324.
- By winning the two games Friday, the Bulldogs clinched their fourth straight conference series victory. It marks the first time in 37 years of Asheville baseball that the program has won four consecutive Big South series in a single season.
- Before today, Lankford was the lone Bulldog to have four hits in a game in 2021. On the day, Freeberger collected four hits in the first game and then added five more in the second, while Kohl Abrams also notched a four-hit outing in game two.
- Chandler started both games in centerfield on Saturday and continued to swing a hot bat. Since making his first start of the season last weekend, Chandler is hitting .538 in five games with three multi-hit games and five runs scored.
- Just like Chandler, Lucas is also swinging it well. In game two, he went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Lucas has started five straight contests behind the plate for Asheville and is hitting .333 with three home runs, 10 RBI, and scored seven times.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Honeycutt, Justin (3-0)
L: JONES, Tyler (1-3)
S: Freeberger, Dominic (2)
Batting:
2B: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Dunn, Sebastian 1
HR: Freeberger, Dominic 1 ; Lankford, Brandon 1
RBI: Kaufman, Ty 3 ; Freeberger, Dominic 4 ; Lankford, Brandon 3 ; Dunn, Sebastian 2
SH: Abrams, Kohl 1 ; Preslar, Grayson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaufman, Ty 3 ; Freeberger, Dominic 3 ; Lankford, Brandon 1 ; Lucas, MJ 2 ; Chandler, Wade 2 ; Preslar, Grayson 1
Batting:
2B: YANKLE, Spencer 1 ; HOOKS, Ty 1 ; TEPPER, Joey 1 ; SMITH, Drake 1 ; BAKER, Tyler 1
RBI: YANKLE, Spencer 1 ; HOOKS, Ty 3 ; TEPPER, Joey 1 ; BAKER, Tyler 2
SF: HOOKS, Ty 1
Base Running:
RUNS: JENNER, Andrew 1 ; MCFALLS, Scout 1 ; YANKLE, Spencer 2 ; HOOKS, Ty 1 ; TEPPER, Joey 1 ; SMITH, Drake 1
PO: YOUNG, Malik 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
3
H
4
RBI
4
rf/lf
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
3
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ Baseball
LHP/OF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
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