ROCK HILL, SC -- Winthrop erupted for four runs in the eighth inning to break open a tie game and went on to defeat second seeded Elon 9-5 Thursday night in the winners bracket of the 2002 Venture Industries Big South Conference Baseball Championship at The Winthrop Ballpark.

The No. 6 seed Eagles (29-28) got a key one-out RBI single by Conrad Funk to break a 5-5 tie and Bennett Stapf added a two-run single in the inning to help Winthrop to the win that sends it into Friday night’s winner’s bracket final against top-seeded Coastal Carolina. Time of the game has been moved to 8 p.m. from its original scheduled start time of 7 o’clock.

Elon (34-20) had jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings as the Phoenix scored once in the first after Brian Ingram opened the game with a triple and scored on a single by Jason Tuttle. They scored twice in the second as Ross Cook doubled to lead off the inning and Gary Morris followed with a base on balls. Cook came home on a fielder’s choice RBI grounder by Robbie Smith before Ingram drove him home with a two-out double to left field.

Winthrop scored once in the third and added two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to take a 5-3 lead. Elon tied the game with single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Ryan Chenard picked up the win with an inning and a third of one-hit relief to improve his record to 4-4. Justin Weeks, who came in to relieve starting pitcher Whit Bryant, suffered the loss to see his record drop to 2-4.

Elon will now drop into the loser’s bracket to face fourth-seeded Liberty at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

Game Box Score

--100 Years of Elon Baseball--