Longwood Falls At VCU 9-8 (12 Innings)

Longwood Baseball Drops Heartbreaker To Rams In Richmond At The Diamond

March 18, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. -- Longwood University dropped a 9-8 baseball decision on the road at VCU Tuesday night in Richmond at The Diamond, a close-played game that took 12 innings to decide. The Lancers (11-7) were led by freshman Justin Morreim/Virginia Beach (Frank W. Cox) (3-6, 3 RBI) with three hits and three RBI against the Rams (5-12) who scored the game-winning run in the 12th inning on a one-out RBI double. Longwood will play again on Thursday, March 20, hosting the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at Lancer Stadium in Farmville beginning at 7 p.m..

Longwood scored a run in the first inning before adding two runs in each of the third and fourth innings with another run in the fifth inning to lead 6-2. VCU, however, scored four runs in the fifth inning to tie the game at 6-6. The Lancers came back with a run in the seventh to lead 7-6, but the Rams plated two runs in the seventh to lead 8-7. LU tied it at 8-8 with a run in the ninth inning to force the extra innings. It remained 8-8 until the 12th inning when VCU pushed across the winning run.

In the first, Morreim’s two-out RBI single scored sophomore Scott Kimble/Spotsylvania (Spotsylvania) (2-6, RBI) who had led-off the game with a bunt-single. In the third, a two-out RBI single by sophomore Phil Cerreto/Midlothian (Midlothian) (2-6, 2 RBI) scored junior Jon Quigley/Annandale (W.T. Woodson) (1-4) who had walked with two outs. Morreim, who had reached on a single, later scored during a run-down play between first and second base. In the fourth, sophomore David Smiy Jr./Chesterfield (Matoaca) singled to open the inning and crossed the plate on an RBI single from classmate Topher Ellis/Virginia Beach (First Colonial) (1-5, RBI). Senior Nick von Gersdorff/Purcellville (Loudoun Valley) (2-5) also singled scored on a sacrifice fly by Kimble.

In the fifth, Morreim added another RBI single that scored Quigley who had opened the frame with a double. In the seventh, Morreim drove in another run with an RBI ground-ball out that allowed junior Robbie Bailey/Mechanicsville (Hanover) (0-4) to cross the plate after earlier reaching base on an error. In the ninth, Bailey walked to leadoff and eventually scored the game-tying run on a two-out infield single from Cerreto.

Junior John Walker II/Alexandria (West Potomac) (2-2) took the pitching loss with the final 2.1 innings, yielding three hits and one earned run with three strikeouts. Freshman Chris Briere/Midlothian (James River) had started and went the first 4.1 innings, allowing four hits and five earned runs with one strikeout.

VCU was led offensively by Richard Gonzalez (2-4, 4 RBI) with two hits and four RBI, and Jared Bolden (2-6, 3 RBI) with two hits and three RBI. Carlos Rodriguez (3-5) had three hits for the Rams, while Joe Van Meter (1-4, RBI) had the game-winning RBI double for the hosts in the 12th that scored Bolden who had led-off with a single. Jesse Reid (1-0) got the mound win with the final 2.0 shutout innings, allowing just one hit with two strikeouts.

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