DANVILLE, Va. ? Winthrop pitcher Ryan Mullins allowed two runs over eight innings and the No. 4 seed Eagles jumped out to an early 5-0 lead en route to a 7-2 win over No. 3 seed VMI in Game 3 of the 2008 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 21 at Dan Daniel Memorial Park in Danville, Va. With the victory, Winthrop improves to 25-32 and advances to play No. 6 seed Radford Thursday at 7:00pm. VMI falls to 29-25 and moves to the loser's bracket, where the Keydets will face No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina Thursday at 3:00pm.
Winthrop jumped on VMI starter Michael Bowman from the start, sending 10 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning and pounding out seven hits and four runs. Tony Brunetti led off with a double and reached third on Kevin Nolan's single up the middle. Eddie Tisdale followed with a single to center that scored Brunetti, and Billy Froehlich later advanced Nolan to third on a fielder's choice. With one out, Bryn Henderson doubled to right to score Nolan and move Froehlich to third, followed by Bowman balking in Froehlich with the third run of the inning. Winthrop continued its onslaught when Eddie Rohan singled to left to score Henderson. The Eagles would load the bases, but Bowman recorded a strikeout and fly out to escape further damage.
The Eagles added a run in the second inning when Froehlich singled to right with two outs. He took second on a passed ball and later scored on a throwing error by VMI catcher Mike Roberts.
But the Keydets battled back in each of the next two innings to cut the score to 5-2. In the second, Brian Sandridge reached second on a two-base throwing error by Nolan, and advanced to third on Justin Topping's fly out to center. Justin Hess plated Sandridge with a sacrifice fly to right. In the third frame, Shane Geisslinger opened the inning with a hit-by-pitch and took second on Sam Roberts' single up the middle. Mike Roberts loaded the bases with an infield hit, and Tanner Biagini scored Geisslinger on a double play groundout.
After allowing five runs in the first two innings, Bowman held Winthrop scoreless the next five frames before being lifted in the eighth inning following Brunetti's leadoff single. The Eagles eventually scored twice off reliever Chris Duty to increase their lead to 7-2. Bowman finished with 12 hits allowed in seven innings with two walks and three strikeouts in falling to 4-6 on the year.
Mullins (7-2) handcuffed VMI most of the night. He did not allow a run after the third inning and scattered seven hits, while walking one and striking out five. He gave up two runs (one earned). Mullins fell short of the complete game, as he opened the ninth inning with a walk to Hess and a single to A.J. Yoder before turning it over to Jason McDonald. McDonald struck out Shane Geisslinger for the first out, induced Sam Roberts into popping out to shallow left, and retired Mike Roberts on a ground out to end the game.
Henderson was 2-4 with three RBI for Winthrop and was one of six Eagles with two hits on the night. Sam Roberts recorded two hits for the Keydets.
Winthrop Head Coach Joe Hudak
“When you look at a tournament like this, the first game is really important to win. Mullins threw great and really gave us a chance to win. It was a great start to the tournament. Our guys came ready to play, got seven hits in the first inning, which was huge for us. Radford is playing very well right now, emotionally they are pretty high. It's going to be important for us to throw strikes. Obviously we can't overlook them. They took two out of three against us, but I like our chances in the tournament as well as anybody.”
VMI Head Coach Marlin Ikenberry
“They did a nice job of coming out and putting a four-spot on (Michael) Bowman early in the game. We had some opportunities to score some runs, but their guys came up with the big plays when they needed to. Ryan Mullins did a great job of pitching tonight and Bowman was erratic and that was the story of the game.”
