March 24, 2008

Box Score

Rock Hill, SC - Winthrop scored three times in the seventh to post a come-from-behind 5-4 win over Wagner in the fourth and final game of the two teams' four-game set. The Seahawks move to 5-9 on the year while the Eagles are now 8-15 after taking three-of-four from the Green & White.

Today's game was decided with a questionable call from the umpires. Freshman Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. Sophomore Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) moved him over to second with a single through the left side. Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) then appeared to put Boyd 90 feet from home on a fly out, but Boyd was called out for leaving second early, resulting in a double-play. Winthrop's Josh McDonald then retired the final batter of the game to give the Eagles the 5-4 victory.

Both teams were plagued by their inability to bring runners home as Wagner stranded 10 runners while Winthrop left eight runners on base. Despite the loss, Boyd and Joe Jamison (West Caldwell, NJ / James Caldwell) turned in exemplary performances. Boyd went 3-4 with a two-run home run and reached base safely four times. Jamison was 2-4 with his first collegiate home run and a RBI single.

Senior LHP Joe Testa (Brick, NJ / Brick) was the tough-luck loser, striking out five while yielding five runs, three earned, over 6.1 innings of work.

Sophomore Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) also had an outstanding defensive game throwing out a runner at the plate and cuting off a hit to the outfield before it went to the wall, saving a run.

Jamison led off the second with his first career home run to deep left-center to open the game's scoring. Winthrop responded with a pair of singles through the left side to lead off the bottom part of the frame. The pair moved up to second-and-third on a sacrifice bunt. Testa then induced a grounder to freshman Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) and the shortstop threw a bullet home to nail Billy Froehlich at the plate.

Wagner extended the lead out to 3-0 in the top of the third. Sophomore Csakai singled to lead off the inning and freshman Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) followed with a two-run blast to left-center.

The Seahawks continued to put pressure on the Eagles and in the top of the fourth chased starter Robert Lake after just 3.2 innings of work. The freshman RHP gave up three runs on five hits while walking three.

Winthrop got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with two unearned runs. With one out, Bryn Henderson reached on an error before moving over to second on a single by Eddie Tisdale. Kevin Nolan doubled to left-center, scoring Henderson while moving Tisdale to third. The damage could have been worse had Csakai not gotten an excellent jump to cut the ball off to hold the runners at second-and-third. After a walk, Testa coaxed Billy Froehlich into a sacrifice fly before getting Louis Ullrich to fly out, ending the inning.

The Eagles were 90 feet away from tying the game in the bottom of the sixth, but Testa again closed the door, striking out Bryn Henderson to quell the threat.

Wagner tacked on a run in the seventh to go up 4-2. Jamison picked up his second RBI of the day, scoring Avella, who had reached on a fielder's choice before moving up to second on a Lucas walk.

Winthrop then assumed their first lead of the game in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three runs. After a hit batsman and a walk, Eddie Rohan doubled high over Lucas' head to cut the deficit to one at 4-3 while giving the Eagles a second-and-third one out situation. Pinch-hitter Tony Brunetti greeted junior RHP Andrew Huebner (Hatfield, PA / North Penn) with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 4-4. Aaron Bonomi gave the Eagles the lead at 5-4 with a single that took a nasty hop over the first baseman.

The Eagles had a chance to extend the lead in the eighth with a runner on third and no outs. Huebner induced a grounder to first to hold the runner before Csakai's throw gunned down Bennett Jordan trying to score to end the frame.

McDonald defeated Wagner for the third-straight year in moving to 1-3. The senior righty struck out one and yielded three hits and one walk over 3.0 innings of relief. Jordan, Nolan and Ullrich each had two hits to lead the offense.

Wagner heads to Lafayette on Wednesday for a 3 pm tilt.