Long Ball; Timely Pitching Leads Bucs to Big South Twinbill Split with Winthrop

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern baseball found a split in a Big South twinbill at Nielsen Field Thursday night, beating Winthrop 6-2 in the night cap after falling in the earlier installment, 4-3.

GAME 2 | CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 6, WINTHROP 2

Charleston Southern (13-17, 5-6 Big South) was the first to find the board in the opening frame of game two as Chandler Tuupo was productive with a ground ball to third to score Tyrell Brewer and give the Bucs the early lead.

Winthrop (15-17, 4-7 Big South) had a quick answer, as the visiting-half of the second saw the Eagles take the lead on a two-run home run from the bat of Nate Chronis.

The Bucs would not waste any time, either, as Connor Aldrich was called on for the safety squeeze. Aldrich would get the bunt down and allow Ashton Wilson to cross the plate and knot the contest up at two, apiece.

The third frame proved to be the turning point as Winthrop went right back to work and looked to re-take the lead, getting runners at second and third with now outs. Zac Robinson was then called on from the CSU bullpen to take over and he would do just that, retiring the next three Eagles hitters to strand the two runners in scoring position and leave the third unscathed.

Charleston Southern would then answer the call on the offensive side of the ball as well in the third. Ernesto Polanco would double with two outs to score Kieran Davis before a Wilson single would return the favor back over to Polanco and give the Bucs a 4-2 lead.

Two solo shots, one from Nico Regino in the sixth and the other coming a frame later off the bat of Jaylin Rae, would double again double the Charleston Southern advantage, giving the Bucs all the run support they would need to earn the twinbill sweep with a chance to take the series in the final installment tomorrow.

Zac Robinson (W, 4-1) takes the win for Charleston Southern after coming on and throwing 3.1 innings of one-hit baseball. Dylan Matsuoka would be called on to get five outs, doing so without surrendering a run while Daniel Padysak would get the final six outs, striking out four while f=giving up just one hit. Sam Massey got the start for CSU and went two complete, being charged with the runs on two hits. The Charleston Southern pitching staff collected 14 punchies as a staff.

Riley Huge (L, 1-2) was charged with the loss after giving up four earned across three hits and three walks in 2.2 innings of work. Four different arms saw work in the nightcap from the Eagles.

GAME ONE | WINTHROP 4, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 3

It was Winthrop that would get on the board first in the opener as a Ramses Cordova single through the left side saw McKinley Erves come around to score and give the Eagles the early lead in the first frame.

Charleston Southern would find a quick answer as Wilson’s single up the middle plated Regino in the following frame to knot the game up at a run, apiece.

The contest would continue on the back-and-forth trend as the Eagles would answer right back with a two-run double off the bat of Cordova to re-take the lead. The Bucs would match it in the home-half of the third as Davis found a two-bagger of his own to score Rae and Aldrich to again find the contest tied.

Winthrop found the final answer, though, as a Nate Chronis single to right gave the Eagles the lead the rest of the way as things would end 4-3 after neither team was able to make much noise after the fifth frame.

Evan Truitt (L, 1-5) takes the loss for Charleston Southern though he had a strong outing. He entered the contest with one out in the third and went the rest of the way, giving up just one earned on four hits and a walk. Kaleb Hill got the start and recorded seven outs as he was charged with three earned on seven hits and a walk. Each of the two Bucs arms recorded three strikeouts.

Parker Whittle (W, 5-1) gets credit for the win for the Eagles after coming on with two outs in the fourth and recording seven outs of his own, giving up just two hits along the way. Zan Rose recorded his second save of the season after getting the final nine outs.

UP NEXT

Head Coach Marc MacMillan’s side will look for the series win in a winner-take-all rubber match with Winthrop Friday, April 7. First pitch is slated for 1:00 p.m.at Nielsen Field.