University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Friday, May 20
Asheville, N.C.
3 p.m.
UNC Asheville
19-27-1, 0
6
vs
0
Winthrop
18-33, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Winthrop
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
3
UNC Asheville
1
0
1
0
0
4
0
0
X
6
12
1
Bulldogs shut out Winthrop, 6-0, to even the series
05.20.2022 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team bounced back with a 6-0 victory over Winthrop on Friday afternoon at Greenwood Field to even the series at a game a piece. The win not only improves Asheville's overall record to 19-27-1 overall and 13-9-1 in Big South play, but it also clinches a top-four seed for the Bulldogs in the upcoming Big South Baseball Tournament.
The pitching tandem of Ryan Douglas and Justin Honeycutt was outstanding on Friday. Douglas, who retired the first 10 Eagles he faced, picked up his second win of the season after tossing five shutout innings with three hits allowed, one walk, and four strikeouts. Honeycutt, meanwhile, picked up a rare four-inning save after he too kept Winthrop scoreless allowing just one hit, one walk, to go with a strikeout in his outing.
Asheville had contributions up and down its lineup on Friday as eight of the nine starters picked up at least one hit. Dylan Bacot went 2-for-5 and added to his team-leading RBI total by driving in three of Asheville's six runs. Dominic Freeberger and Brock Mercado both totaled two hits, scored a run, and drew a walk in the contest, while Tylan Reece notched his second two-hit performance in the last three games with a 2-for-3 afternoon.
The Bulldogs wasted little time in getting Douglas some run support on Friday. After Freeberger reached base thanks to a Winthrop fielding error in the bottom of the first inning, Robbie Burnett hit a ringing double into the gap to score him and give Asheville the first lead, 1-0.
Asheville added another unearned run in the third as Bacot drove in Ty Kaufman via a groundout to make it 2-0 Bulldogs. The big inning, however, for the Bulldogs came in the sixth. After the leadoff man was retired, Mercado and Reece both tallied singles to give Asheville a scoring threat. Wade Chandler then came through with a single of his own to plate Mercado to make it 3-0 Bulldogs. Kaufman followed with an RBI single to allow Reece to score before Bacot plated both Chandler and Kaufman on a two-run double to left to extend the lead to six, 6-0.
The six runs of support proved to be more than enough for Honeycutt to take it the rest of the way to finish off the win for Asheville. In his last two appearances vs. USC Upstate and Winthrop, Honeycutt has tossed 8.1 scoreless innings and has lowered his season ERA to 1.91.
As mentioned earlier, Friday's win clinched a top-four seed for Asheville in next week's Big South Baseball Tournament in High Point, N.C. The last time Asheville finished among the top-four teams in the Big South was in 2003, when it posted a 12-9 record in league action.
The start time of Saturday's rubber match between the Bulldogs and Eagles has been altered from its originally scheduled time of 1 p.m. To try and beat the rain forecasted later in the day, the Eagles and Bulldogs will play at 10 a.m. Saturday with the senior day ceremonies set to begin at 9:30 a.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and will air locally on CW62 beginning at 11 a.m.
The pitching tandem of Ryan Douglas and Justin Honeycutt was outstanding on Friday. Douglas, who retired the first 10 Eagles he faced, picked up his second win of the season after tossing five shutout innings with three hits allowed, one walk, and four strikeouts. Honeycutt, meanwhile, picked up a rare four-inning save after he too kept Winthrop scoreless allowing just one hit, one walk, to go with a strikeout in his outing.
Asheville had contributions up and down its lineup on Friday as eight of the nine starters picked up at least one hit. Dylan Bacot went 2-for-5 and added to his team-leading RBI total by driving in three of Asheville's six runs. Dominic Freeberger and Brock Mercado both totaled two hits, scored a run, and drew a walk in the contest, while Tylan Reece notched his second two-hit performance in the last three games with a 2-for-3 afternoon.
The Bulldogs wasted little time in getting Douglas some run support on Friday. After Freeberger reached base thanks to a Winthrop fielding error in the bottom of the first inning, Robbie Burnett hit a ringing double into the gap to score him and give Asheville the first lead, 1-0.
Asheville added another unearned run in the third as Bacot drove in Ty Kaufman via a groundout to make it 2-0 Bulldogs. The big inning, however, for the Bulldogs came in the sixth. After the leadoff man was retired, Mercado and Reece both tallied singles to give Asheville a scoring threat. Wade Chandler then came through with a single of his own to plate Mercado to make it 3-0 Bulldogs. Kaufman followed with an RBI single to allow Reece to score before Bacot plated both Chandler and Kaufman on a two-run double to left to extend the lead to six, 6-0.
The six runs of support proved to be more than enough for Honeycutt to take it the rest of the way to finish off the win for Asheville. In his last two appearances vs. USC Upstate and Winthrop, Honeycutt has tossed 8.1 scoreless innings and has lowered his season ERA to 1.91.
As mentioned earlier, Friday's win clinched a top-four seed for Asheville in next week's Big South Baseball Tournament in High Point, N.C. The last time Asheville finished among the top-four teams in the Big South was in 2003, when it posted a 12-9 record in league action.
The start time of Saturday's rubber match between the Bulldogs and Eagles has been altered from its originally scheduled time of 1 p.m. To try and beat the rain forecasted later in the day, the Eagles and Bulldogs will play at 10 a.m. Saturday with the senior day ceremonies set to begin at 9:30 a.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and will air locally on CW62 beginning at 11 a.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Douglas, Ryan (2-5)
L: BOOKBINDER, Josh (1-3)
S: Honeycutt, Justin (2)
Base Running:
CS: TAUL, Robby 1
Batting:
2B: Freeberger, Dominic 1 ; Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Mercado, Brock 1
RBI: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 3 ; Chandler, Wade 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaufman, Ty 2 ; Freeberger, Dominic 1 ; Mercado, Brock 1 ; Reece, Tylan 1 ; Chandler, Wade 1
SB: Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 1
HBP: Reece, Tylan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
INF/OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ Baseball
LHP/OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballC/U
/ BaseballINF
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