March 20, 2009

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took a 5-2 baseball victory past visiting Lafayette College Friday afternoon at Lancer Stadium in Farmville.  Junior Phil Cerreto/Midlothian (Midlothian) (3-4, RBI) led the Lancers (13-7) with three hits, including an RBI double.  Jeff Butler (2-4, 2 RBI) led the Leopards (7-8) with two hits and two RBI.  Longwood and Lafayette will continue their three-game weekend series with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 21, at Lancer Stadium beginning at 1 p.m..  Admission is free to all Longwood baseball games.
   
Longwood got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the fourth inning as sophomore Brant Jones/Richmond (Monacan) (2-4) led-off with a double to left field and scored when Cerreto followed with his RBI double to left-center field.  Cerreto advanced to third base on a passed ball and continued home when the catcher threw the ball into left field on the play.  The Lancers pushed the lead to 4-0 with two more runs in the sixth when Cerreto reached on a one-out single up the middle and scored on a two-out RBI single from senior Jonathan Quigley/Annandale (W.T. Woodson) (1-4, RBI).  Quigley would later cross the plate during a run-down play between first and second base involving junior David Smiy Jr./Chesterfield (Matoaca) (2-4, RBI) who had an infield single into the hole at shortstop.
   
Lafayette closed to within 4-2 with two runs in the seventh inning as Butler contributed a two-out, two-run single.  Longwood added an insurance run in the eighth inning when Smiy tripled to right field to score Cerreto who had singled.  Freshman Dustin Sollars/Midlothian (Cosby) (2-4) also had two hits for the Lancers, while Justin Shepherd (2-3) added two hits for the Leopards.
   
Senior right-hander Paul Heidler II/Warrenton (Notre Dame Academy) (2-1) had the pitching win for Longwood with the first 6.2 innings on the mound, scattering seven hits and two earned runs with three walks and three strikeouts.  Junior right-hander Lance Harting/Ballston Spa, N.Y. (Ballston Spa) (4) earned his fourth save with the final 2.1 scoreless innings, yielding just one hit with two walks.  It was also the 11th career save for Harting to tie him for the program's career record along with Jason Hunsecker '03 (11, 2000-03).
   
Jeremy Atkins (0-1) took the pitching loss for Lafayette with the first 7.1 innings, allowing nine hits and four earned runs with one walk and five strikeouts.