WINSTON-SALEM, NC – The Winthrop baseball team dropped its fourth consecutive game on Tuesday evening with a 4-2 defeat to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the Wake Forest Baseball Park.
The Eagles fall to 30-22, while the Demon Deacons improve to 22-27.
Ryan McGrath (3-1) earned the victory pitching 1.2 scoreless innings allowing no hits, no walks and two strikeouts. Austin Stuart (0-1) took the loss surrendering three runs on three hits, two walks and two strikeouts in 2.0 innings of work. Zach White (3) got the save pitching 1.0 innings allowing no runs on one hits, no walks and one strikeout.
Wake Forest took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI sacrifice fly to center field by Tyler Smith that scored Dustin Hood from third base. Hood singled to center field three batters earlier, and advanced to third on back-to-back walks by Mike Murray and Weldon Woodall.
Winthrop answered back to take a 2-1 lead in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Kevin Nolan and Eddie Rohan. The double by Nolan went to right field and scored Cam Walters from first base on a hit-and-run after Walters led off the inning reaching on an error by Smith at first. Rohan followed Nolan with an 11-pitch at-bat that resulted in his RBI double down the left field line and drove home Nolan in the process.
The Demon Deacons tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI infield single by Ryan Semeniuk who came in the game to pinch-hit for Steven Brooks. Evan Ocheltree came home on the single after he doubled off the left field wall and moved to third after Shane Kroker grounded back to Austin Stuart.
Wake Forest regained the lead at 4-2 in the seventh inning on an RBI groundout by Smith and an RBI single to left field by Bentley Heyman. Murray scored on the groundout to first by Smith and Woodall came home on the base hit by Heyman. Murray started the inning with a walk, went to second after Woodall was hit by a hit and both advanced a base after a passed ball.
Rohan and Tisdale had two hits apiece for the Eagles, while Ocheltree had three hits for the Demon Deacons.
Winthrop will be back in action on Thursday, May 13 as it hosts Gardner-Webb at 6 p.m. in the first game of a three-game series.
