Fans wearing garnet attire spread throughout the Winthrop Ballpark last Tuesday as the Eagles hosted South Carolina for the first time since 1999. The Gamecocks (now 10-0) defeated Winthrop with ease, scoring 19 runs to the home team’s eight.
Winthrop’s Dalton Skinner tossed the first pitches of the game, facing just four batters in the top of the first inning and holding the visitors scoreless. In the bottom of the inning, Winthrop’s bats spoke early.
Scout McFalls fired up the hometown fans with a leadoff single, and he proceeded to steal second base. When the next batter struck out, McFalls stole third, putting him in an easy scoring position with only one out.
Winthrop’s Dillon Morton brought McFalls home, hitting a double to left center field and giving the Eagles the first run of the game. That lead did not last long.
The Gamecocks scored five runs in the second inning, recording four hits including a 3-run homer by Brady Allen that clanked off the scoreboard. In the third inning, Joe Satterfield batted in two more runs for South Carolina, putting Winthrop down 7-1.
The Eagles had no answer, and the Gamecocks completely took the wind out of their sails in the fourth inning by adding nine more runs to the scoreboard (capped off by a 3-run bomb for Andrew Eyster that bounced off Winthrop’s enormous batter’s eye.)
Winthrop countered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth as Matt Levenson and Tyler Baker each recorded an RBI, but the Eagles were still facing a 13-run deficit.
The next three innings drug by despite neither team recording a single hit. The Gamecock offense had stalled, but the Eagles were too depleted to make up any ground.
In the eighth inning, Winthrop narrowed the gap by adding two more runs to its total, taking advantage of some pitching mistakes for South Carolina. Heading to the ninth inning, Winthrop still trailed 16-5.
The visitors put on one more show in the ninth inning, boosting their run count to 19 after the first two batters of the inning were hit by pitches. The home team matched this effort with one more rally of its own.
With two runners on, freshman Luke Hannum doubled down the left field line, bringing in both baserunners. After being batted around to third, Hannam recorded the last run of the game on a balk by the Gamecock pitcher.
Now 3-5, Winthrop has just two non-conference games remaining (a home-and-home series with Wofford that will be played in between conference games). The Eagles were originally set to open conference play at High Point for a three game series on March 5 and 6, but the games were postponed. Winthrop’s next series is scheduled for this weekend in Rock Hill against Gardner-Webb, with games on Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
*A previous article that appeared in The Johnsonian’s Feb. 24 issue incorrectly stated that this was going to be the first time in school history that Winthrop hosted the Gamecocks
Photo by Tate Walden
