March 23, 2008
Box Score
Rock Hill, SC - Winthrop defeated Wagner 4-1 on Easter Sunday in the third game of a four-game set at the Winthrop Ballpark. The Seahawks move to 5-8 while the Eagles improve to 7-15.
Today's game took only 2:13 and featured crisp defense and solid pitching as the two teams combined to commit just one error and walk one batter. The difference was Winthrop's Billy Froehlich, who went 4-4 with two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored.
Froehlich started today's scoring with a two run homer to right-center, scoring Bryn Henderson, who had singled in the previous at-bat, to make it 2-0 Winthrop in the first.
The Seahawks would put together a two-out rally in their next trip to plate. Freshman Joe Jamison (West Caldwell, NJ / James Caldwell) doubled with two outs and sophomore Tom DiPietro (Staten Island, NY / Felician) walked. However the Green & White would strand the pair.
Winthrop would add another run in the bottom part of the inning. Tyler McBride singled home Tony Brunetti. Brunetti was hit by a pitch and had moved over to third on a well-executed hit-and-run by Louis Ullrich.
Wagner would again put two runners on base in the third. Freshman Jared Gruccio (Landisville, NJ / Buena Regional) led off with a beautiful bunt single to the first baseman. He moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold), who appeared to beat the throw. Junior Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) was hit by a pitch, but that would be the extent of the damage as the Green & White were unable to convert for the second-straight inning.
Over the next few innings the pitchers took over. From the third to the fifth inning, sophomore RHP Matt Watson (Howell, NJ / Howell) faced just one over the minimum, needing only 22 pitches (16 strikes). Unfortunately for the Green & White, Winthrop's RHP Ryan Mullins was equally dominating. Mullins faced the minimum nine hitters from the fourth to the sixth inning, yielding just a Jon Lucas (Fr., Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) double before he was erased on a double play.
In the sixth, Froehlich extended the lead out to 4-0 with his second home run of the day, a solo shot to right-center. The damage could have been worse as Kevin Nolan then doubled but was thrown out by Drechsel trying to steal third.
Drechsel, a two-time NEC Second Team selection, epitomized the Seahawk defense, which did not commit an error while turning two double plays, throwing out three runners trying to steal on the day.
Sophomore Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) led off the seventh with Wagner's third-double of the game. Jamison moved McDonnell to third on a hard-hit ball that was corralled by the Winthrop first baseman. After Mullins exited the game, RHP Matteo D'Angelo bounced one in the dirt, allowing McDonnell to score. That would be the last mistake of the day by D'Angelo.
D'Angelo, who played for Italy in the most recent World Baseball Classic, closed out the game with six strikeouts over 2.2 hitless innings.
Watson (1-3) gave up four runs and struck out one while not yielding a walk over 6.0 innings. Lucas relieved Watson and struck out three over 2.0 scoreless innings in his collegiate pitching debut.
Mullins (1-4) picked up the win for the Eagles, striking out three, against just one walk, while yielding one run over 6.1 innings of work.
The two teams will conclude their series with a game tomorrow at 3:30 pm.
