Winthrop upends Radford in Big South baseball tourney

BY CHRIS LANG
Published: May 23, 2008

WINTHROP 13, RADFORD 9
SWAGGER BACK?: Winthrop completed its worst regular season since moving to Division I in 1985, finishing eight games below .500. You wouldn’t be able to tell by the way the Eagles have carried themselves during the first two days of the tournament. Winthrop has played free and easy, rolling to big leads against both VMI and Radford. The Eagles survived a scare Thursday night against RU, falling behind 9-8 in the seventh inning, but they recovered to score the next five runs and put the game away. Winthrop, which faces league champion Coastal Carolina today at 3 p.m., went 1-2 against the Chanticleers in the regular season.
NO QUIT: Radford trailed 5-1 but rallied to take a brief lead. The big hit came from catcher Nate Toth, who crushed a three-run double to right field. Winthrop’s Billy Froehlich tried to make a play on the ball, but it was tailing away from his glove and he slipped trying to adjust. Toth has played the entire season with a herniated disc in his back.
INSIDE THE BOX: Radford’s Alex Gregory needs one more hit to become the eighth player in school history with 200 in his career. Radford’s Reggie Keen also improved his hitting streak to 19 games.
STAR OF THE GAME: Winthrop catcher John Murrian went 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs.
QUOTABLE: “I like our chances. (Coastal Carolina) is a great club, and we’re going to have to play very, very well to beat them. But we’ve proven in the past that we can.” — Winthrop coach Joe Hudak.

RADFORD 001 111 500 — 9 13 5
COASTAL CAROLINA 041 003 23X — 13 15 1
WP — Josh McDonald (4-4). LP — Shane Pysh (1-5).