April 22, 2009

BOX SCORE

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- Longwood University dropped a 16-14 baseball decision on the road at James Madison University of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Wednesday afternoon in Harrisonburg.  The Lancers, who took an early 10-0 advantage in the game, dropped to 21-17 while the Dukes, who scored six runs in the ninth inning, improved to 24-18.  Longwood will now take 10 days off for spring semester examinations next week before returning to action May 2-3 for a three-game weekend series at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Maryland.
   
At JMU, Longwood led 10-0 after three at-bats while scoring three runs in the first inning and seven runs in the second.  In the first, sophomore Brant Jones/Richmond (Monacan) (4-6, 5 RBI) hit a two-run home run to left field scoring junior Scott Kimble/Spotsylvania (Spotsylvania) (0-4) who had been hit-by-a-pitch.  Junior Phil Cerreto/Midlothian (Midlothian) (2-5, 4 RBI) followed with a solo home run to left field and the early advantage.  In the second, freshman Robby Newman/Virginia Beach (Salem) (1-4, RBI) led-off with a solo home run to left field, Jones provided a three-run double down the left field line, and Cerreto followed once-again with a homer, this time a two-run shot to right-center field.  Junior Casey Havers/Thorofare, N.J. (West Deptford) (1-3) was hit-by-a-pitch as well and later scored on a wild pitch during the seven-run inning.  Jones now has six home runs this season, Cerreto has seven homers which is tied for the team lead, and Newman has four home runs.
   
The Dukes scored two runs in each of the third and fourth innings to close to within 10-4 before the Lancers added a run in the fifth to lead 11-4.  Cerreto drove-in his fourth run of the game with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored freshman Richie Palase/Staten Island, N.Y. (Moore Catholic) (3-3) who had singled.  JMU continued its comeback with two more runs in the fifth inning, and four runs in the sixth to make it a one-run game at 11-10.  LU added three more runs in the eighth to lead 14-10 as freshman Dustin Sollars/Midlothian (Cosby) (1-5, 2 RBI) provided a clutch two-out, two-run double to center field and later crossed the plate on another wild pitch.  Unfortunately, the hosts scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, including a two-out, three-run walk-off home run by David Herbek (3-5, 4 RBI) to complete the come-from-behind victory.
   
Senior John Walker II/Alexandria (West Potomac) (4-4) took the pitching loss for Longwood, yielding three hits and four earned runs with one walk and no strikeouts over the final one-third of an inning in relief.  Also pitching for the Lancers were sophomore starter Troy Dickman/Midlothian (Midlothian) [4.2-ip, 7-h, 4-er, 0-bb, 4-k], freshman Mark Montgomery/Williamsburg (Bruton) [3.1-ip, 3-h, 3-er, 2-bb, 3-k], along with sophomore Chris Briere/Midlothian (James River) [0.1-ip, 3-h, 3-er, 0-bb, 0-k].
   
In addition to Herbek's three hits, four RBI, and late-game heroics, Matt Browning (3-5, 3 RBI) also had three hits and three RBI for James Madison, while Chris Johnson (2-4, 2 RBI) added two hits and two RBI, and Kent Burford (1-4, 2 RBI) had a hit and two RBI.  Alex Valadja (4-3) earned the pitching win for the Dukes with the final 1.1 innings of relief, scattering three hits and one earned run with no walks and one strikeout.