University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs celebrate Senior Day with an 8-5 win over Winthrop
05.21.2022 | Baseball
The 2022 regular season wraps up for Asheville as one of the best in program history. The third-place finish by Asheville in the Big South standings is tied for the best finish in program history, joining the 1989, 1990, and 1998 teams. Asheville's .604 winning percentage vs. Big South foes in 2022 is the best in program history, while the 14 conference victories also matches the program record for league wins in a season. Thanks to these achievements, the Bulldogs will make their first postseason tournament appearance since 2019.
Asheville's offense continued to roll on Saturday as all nine members of the starting lineup picked up a hit or drove in a run to fuel the win. Senior PJ Heintz had a fantastic final game at Greenwood Field, going 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. Tylan Reece continues to swing a hot bat with another two-hit day, going 2-for-4 with a run scored, while the duo of underclassmen Cameron Johnson (2-for-3, two runs scored) and Robbie Burnett (2-for-5, run scored) had multi-hit games as well.
Senior Jacob Edwards picked up the win in his final start at Greenwood Field, boosting his record to 8-3. Edwards' eight victories are tied for the fourth-most by an Asheville pitcher in a single season and the most by a Bulldog since 2008, when Alan DeRatt also had eight wins. Edwards allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits in five innings pitched in his final outing at home. Following Edwards, the Bulldog bullpen stepped up, throwing four innings where it did not allow an earned run. The foursome that finished off the Bulldog win on the mound was Blake Little, Chris Sabo, along with the senior duo of Chris Banks and JP Perez.
All of the offense for Asheville came in the game's first four innings. Ty Kaufman, who doubled to lead off the bottom of the first inning, scored on a Winthrop wild pitch to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. Two hits and a sacrifice bunt from the Eagles tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second.
Asheville quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the second. Reece got it started with a double before senior Wade Chandler singled to give Asheville two runners on base. Kaufman was retired on a flyout before senior Dominic Freeberger came through with a clutch two-out single to drive in Reece and put Asheville back in front, 2-1.
The Bulldogs would break it open with back-to-back three-run innings in the third and fourth. Heintz launched a three-run home run to score Dylan Bacot, who reached on a walk, and Johnson to grow the Bulldog lead to four in the third.
Bye bye baseball! Senior PJ Heintz launches a three-run home run to put Asheville up 5-1! #ALLinAVL #TTS pic.twitter.com/sv7Kqfnd3X
— UNC Asheville Baseball (@UNCAvlBaseball) May 21, 2022
Winthrop got a run back in the fourth, but an RBI double by Johnson, a sacrifice fly from Michael Groves, and an RBI single from Heintz grew Asheville's lead to six, 8-2.
Winthrop would score twice in the fifth to get the deficit down to four. The Eagles did have runners on in each of the final four innings but could not come up with a momentum-changing hit. Winthrop scored one in the top of the ninth and had the tying run come to the plate. However, Perez induced a groundout to finish off the Bulldog victory.
As mentioned earlier, the Bulldog will be the third seed for next week's Big South Baseball Championship. Asheville's opening game will be on Wednesday at 3 p.m. against sixth-seeded Gardner-Webb from Truist Point, the home of the High Point Rockers, in High Point, N.C. Fans can tune in to watch the game on ESPN+. Fans can also purchase tickets HERE.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Edwards, Jacob (8-3)
L: GAINEY, Garrett (5-6)
Batting:
2B: MILLER, Khyree 1 ; TAUL, Robby 1
RBI: FEWELL, Ethan 1 ; SPYKE, Jack 1
SH: TEPPER, Joey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: CONRAD, C.J. 1 ; SZVETITZ, Joseph 1 ; MILLER, Khyree 1 ; TEPPER, Joey 1 ; TAUL, Robby 1

Batting:
2B: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Johnson, Cameron 2 ; Reece, Tylan 1
HR: Heintz, PJ 1
RBI: Freeberger, Dominic 1 ; Johnson, Cameron 1 ; Groves, Michael 1 ; Heintz, PJ 4
SH: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Chandler, Wade 1
SF: Groves, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 2 ; Johnson, Cameron 2 ; Heintz, PJ 1 ; Reece, Tylan 1
HBP: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Johnson, Cameron 1