ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Interstat) — Cooper Smith pitched a complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts as UNC Asheville blanked Winthrop 9-0 on Sunday, May 3, 2026, at Greenwood Baseball Field, salvaging the finale of a Big South series after dropping the first two games.

Smith’s performance was the dominant storyline. The right-hander allowed five hits over nine innings with no walks and zero earned runs. It marked a sharp turnaround from his previous outing April 26 against Charleston Southern, when he failed to record an out and surrendered five earned runs.

Smith received early support from the Bulldogs’ offense, which broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning. Zeb Swangim walked, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a single by B. Johnson.

UNC Asheville padded its lead in the fourth. Jake Minarik doubled and scored on a single by Tyler Parks. An error and a wild pitch brought home two more runs, making the score 3-0.

The Bulldogs put the game away in the fifth. After singles and walks loaded the bases, Parks delivered a two-run single up the middle, and a sacrifice fly by L. Lowe made it 6-0.

Winthrop’s best chance to score came in the sixth when Josh Skowronski singled and Benhardt singled, but the inning ended with a foul out.

UNC Asheville tacked on three unearned runs in the seventh. A fielding error by the shortstop and a throwing error by the pitcher allowed Minarik to reach and advance to third. After two walks, Swangim doubled to right center, clearing the bases and extending the lead to 9-0.

Raymond McNaught and Garrett Byrd combined 3 2/3 shutout innings in relief for Winthrop, but the Eagles’ offense never solved Smith. Skowronski went 2-for-3 for Winthrop, collecting half of the team’s five hits. Winthrop’s hitters struck out nine times and left eight runners on base.

The loss dropped Winthrop to 30-18 overall. UNC Asheville improved to 18-30. The Bulldogs had lost the first two games of the series by scores of 10-6 and 5-1, and had lost six of their previous seven entering Sunday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Winthrop 6, UNC Asheville 5, and Interstat’s ELO system had given Winthrop a 70.60 percent probability to win.