Homers Power Bucs over Winthrop, End Eagles' Dominance

Freshman Tom Burkett hit the largest of the Bucs' three home runs on the day, a three-run shot to give CSU the lead for good.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – A trio of Buccaneer freshman homered on Friday, leading the CSU baseball team to a 9-4 victory over Winthrop, which had won the last 14 meetings between these two teams. Derek Smith had a two-run blast in the fourth, Tom Burkett had a three-run dinger in the sixth and Steve Antolik led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo shot over the wall in left center. It was the second time this season that the Bucs have recorded three home runs in a game.

Winthrop (15-22, 5-5 Big South) had won 14 consecutive games over the Bucs, including four straight sweeps in season series. CSU (14-23, 3-7) last recorded a victory over the Eagles on March 21, 2003.

Junior starter Andrew White (4-4) improved to .500 on the season by pitching seven strong innings for CSU. He allowed eight hits and one walk while striking out four, giving up four runs to bring his earned run average to 3.18 on the season, which is the best among the Buccaneer starters.

Senior Payton Tweddale, the team’s leader in career saves, moved closer to another program record, making his 95th career appearance for the Bucs, giving up a pair of hits over two scoreless innings. Nina Fasulo holds the record with 100 appearances from 2002-05.

Falling to 3-5 on the season, Ryan Schwartz took the loss for Winthrop. He pitched five and one-third innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

The Eagles took the early lead when Bennett Jordan’s blast cleared the wall in left field to bring three runs in for the visitors. CSU all but erased the deficit with one swing in the bottom half of the inning, however, when Smith recorded his eighth homer of the season. Antolik got into scoring position with a one-out, bases empty double, but jogged home on Smith’s two-run shot, making it 3-2 in Winthrop’s favor.

Junior Jake Cox brought the Bucs even in the bottom of the fifth inning, driving a single through the left side to bring home Burkett, who had led off the inning with a triple. With White holding the Eagles’ offense at bay, CSU erupted for five runs in the next inning.

Smith led off with a single and moved to second when freshman Tyler Thornburg singled to center one out later. Burkett then stepped into the batter’s box and gave the Bucs the lead for good when his blast cleared the wall in left field for a three-run homer.

Cox kept the rally going by drawing a walk and hustling to third on freshman Taylor Black’s single. With runners on the corners, junior Mark Perry’s groundout gave Cox enough time to score to push the Bucs’ lead to four. Junior Kory Morian followed with another single, bringing Black around to score.

In what could have been a spark for the Winthrop offense, leadoff man Bryn Henderson put a solo shot over the wall in left to pull the Eagles within four, 8-4, but that was as close as they could get.

Padding the home team’s advantage, Antolik started the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to left field to the CSU lead to 9-4. Tweddale then stepped in and sealed the victory for the Bucs.

These two teams will wrap up their series with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 11 a.m.