April 10, 2007
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University rallied from an early 6-1 deficit for an impressive 8-6 baseball road win at James Madison University of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tuesday in Harrisonburg. The Lancers out-hit the Dukes 12-10, including three home runs during the decisive fifth inning when the visitors scored six runs to go ahead 7-6 en route to the come-from-behind victory. Longwood improved to 29-11 with its second win past JMU (10-23) this season, and will play again next Tuesday, April 17, at George Mason University of the CAA beginning at 1 p.m. in Fairfax.
Longwood scored a run in the first inning for the early advantage as senior captain Tyler Ames/Exmore (Northampton) (1-5) opened the contest with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and crossed the plate on a two-out RBI single by classmate Tyler Childress/Montclair (Forest Park) (2-5, 2 RBI). James Madison responded with two runs in each of the second, third, and fourth innings to take the five-run lead at 6-1 as reigning College Baseball Player of the Year Kellen Kulbacki (2-4, 2 RBI) hit a solo home run in the third -- his 11th of the season -- and added an RBI double in the fourth.
The Lancers rallied back in the fifth behind home runs from sophomore Robbie Bailey/Mechanicsville (Hanover) (1-4, 2 RBI), Childress, and freshman Phil Cerreto/Midlothian (Midlothian) (2-5, 3 RBI). Bailey’s fourth homer of the season was a two-run shot to right field that also extended his current hitting streak to 15 games. Childress hit a solo blast to left field, his sixth of the season, and Cerreto added a two-run round-tripper to left field as well -- his first collegiate home run -- and the visitors led 7-6. LU added an insurance run in the ninth inning when sophomore Jon Quigley/Annandale (W.T. Woodson) (0-5) reached base on a passed ball after striking-out and later scored on an RBI single from Cerreto. Freshman Scott Kimble/Spotsylvania (Spotsylvania) (3-4) collected three hits for Longwood, including a double.
Senior right-handed pitcher Brian McCullough/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) (5-1), on the preseason Wallace Watch List, earned the mound win with the first 6.0 innings, allowing nine hits and six earned runs with five strikeouts and two walks. Classmate and left-handed pitcher Needham Jones III/Portsmouth (Woodrow Wilson) worked 2.2 innings of relief, yielding just one hit with four strikeouts before sophomore right-handed pitcher John Walker II/Alexandria (West Potomac) (1) gained his first save -- registering the final out of the contest on a fly ball.
In addition to Kulbacki, Mitchell Moses (2-4, 2 RBI), Matt Townsend (2-2, RBI), and Alex Foltz (2-5, RBI) each had two hits for James Madison. Allie Swanson (1-4) took the mound loss for the Dukes with two-thirds of an inning of relief, allowing three hits and three earned runs -- ironically Swanson took the pitching loss earlier this season as well during a 3-2 LU win on February 28 in Farmville. The win today was also just the third win by Longwood over JMU in 11 overall contests.
