FARMVILLE, Va. – A high-profile showdown between two of the Big South's best pitchers, Winthrop's Nate Pawelczyk and Longwood's
Tyler Morgan lived up to its billing for six innings on Saturday afternoon, but Winthrop broke away in the seventh to take out Longwood 9-3. Four hits and three Longwood errors led to five Winthrop runs as the Eagles pulled away late.
Tyler Baker skied a popup in the infield to lead off the seventh, but
Hunter Gilliam dropped it. Baker advanced into scoring position on a bad pickoff attempt by reliever
Jon Peterson, and Adam Raines tapped in the go-ahead run with a single to left field. Winthrop then loaded the bases, and Grant English singled two more runs home. With two on and two out a few batters later, Matthew Mulkey scored from second on an overthrow on a double steal, and Jake Sullivan doubled in one more run one batter later to put Winthrop up 7-2.
The seventh inning overshadowed an excellent start by Morgan (2-3) for the Lancers. The junior right-hander limited Winthrop's high-powered offense to two runs in his first six innings before exiting after Baker reached on the error to lead off the seventh. Morgan struck out nine and only surrendered three runs, one earned, on six hits and two walks. He has now struck out 28 batters in his last 22 innings.
"I though Tyler was outstanding," said Longwood head coach
Ryan Mau. "He went toe-to-toe with Nate Pawelczyk and gave us a great opportunity to win a game."
Pawelczyk (5-1), the Big South's ERA leader coming into the game, earned the win after striking out 11 in seven innings of work. He gave up two runs on six hits and a walk while hitting two batters.
The Eagles took the lead in the second inning when Brandon Fite singled home one run. With two outs and runners on first and second, Raines tapped a grounder up the middle.
De'Andre Pitts fielded it, but his throw went over the second baseman's head, and Sullivan took home on the play.
Morgan settled things down though and only allowed three baserunners between the third and sixth innings. Meanwhile, the Lancer offense ripped off a two-out rally in the third to even the score.
Jawan McAllister was hit by a pitch and stole second.
Cullan Wadsworth smoked a triple down the right field line, his first triple for the Lancers, to cut the lead to 2-1. One batter later,
Hunter Gilliam looped an RBI single up the middle to tie the game at two.
Gilliam went 3-5 at the plate for his first career three-hit game for Longwood.
The final game of the series starts at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
"We've got to find a way to grab one, got to find a way to avoid the sweep," said Mau. "We've got to keep working because defensively we're not where we need to be."
#GoWood
