Winthrop powers past CSU, 23-6, in baseball action

Justin Fyle is closing in on single-season RBI record

CHARLESTON, SC – Visiting Winthrop made the most of the long ball, hitting five homeruns, in defeating Charleston Southern, 23-6, in game one of a Big South Conference series at Buccaneer Field on Friday afternoon.

Winthrop improved to 35-12 overall and 11-5 in Big South play with the win, while the Buccaneers dropped to 17-32 overall, 8-11 in league play. The two teams play game two on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Leftfielder Jacob Dempsey had four hits and six RBI to pace Winthrop’s 20-hit attack. Tommy Lentz had three hits and three RBI while Mitch Saum and Alan Robbins each tallied three RBI for the game.

Staked to an early big lead, Winthrop starter Heath Rollins cruised to his ninth win of the season, allowing four runs on six hits over six innings.

CSU starter Mike Mead (1-4) took the loss, allowing 11 runs on eight hits with five walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Winthrop put the game away early on, using a pair of three-run homeruns in the top of the second inning to pull out to a 6-0 lead. With two outs in the inning, catcher Alan Robbins belted a three-run shot to right center for a 3-0 lead. A double by Chris Carrara and a walk to Heath Rollins preceded Jacob Dempsey’s three-run homer to right for a 6-0 lead.

Mike Konstanty made it 7-0 with a solo blast in the third and Matt Repec drilled a two-run double to right for a 9-0 lead in the fourth inning. Mitch Saum followed with a ground ball up the middle to score two runs and the Eagles led, 11-0, after four.

Charleston Southern got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when catcher John Mark Cleaveland drove in two runs with a double just inside the third base bag.

After Winthrop plated three runs in the top of the fifth, the Bucs scored twice more on Chris Krogmeier’s third homerun of the season, a two-run shot to centerfield, cutting the lead to 14-4.

Winthrop scored four more runs with two outs in the sixth, including their fourth homer of the day as Tommy Lentz delivered a two-run shot to put the Eagles up, 18-4.

CSU’s Wes Brundridge led off the seventh with a homerun to left but the Eagles tacked on five more runs in the last two innings for the final margin.

CSU’s Justin Fyle had two doubles and an RBI. Fyle now has 44 RBI on the season, three shy of the CSU single-season record.