Box Score
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Freshman
Kyri Washington/Prospect had two hits, including a three-run home run, and sophomore
Brandon Delk/Newport News added a two-run home run to lead No. 7 Longwood University to a dramatic 6-5 victory against No. 6 Gardner-Webb University in an elimination game at the 2013 Big South Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon at the Liberty Baseball Stadium in Lynchburg. Sophomore
Aaron Myers/Newport News gained the impressive complete-game pitching win for the Lancers (26-27), tying his career high with nine strikeouts in the contest. John Harris had four hits, and Brad Collins had three RBI, to lead the Bulldogs (29-27-1), while Erik Heiligenstadt took the mound loss with the first 2.0 innings. Longwood advances to play No. 1 Campbell University in the semifinals of the double-elimination conference tournament on Friday morning, May 24 at 10 a.m. in Lynchburg.
Longwood went in order to start the game in the top of the first inning, as freshman
Colton Konvicka/Richmond (0-5) along with junior captains
Matt Dickason/Chesapeake (2-5) and
Scott Burkett/Williamsburg (1-4) were retired on ground balls. Gardner-Webb scored a run in the first inning to take an early 1-0 advantage, getting a one-out double to right field from Benji Jackson (1-5), who scored on a two-out RBI single by Collins (1-4, 3 RBI).
Longwood answered in the top of the second inning with three runs on four hits to go ahead 3-1. Washington (2-4, 3 RBI) started things with a one-out single, followed by a run-scoring double to left center field by senior
Justin Lacy/Glen Allen (1-3, RBI) to score Washington. Delk (1-4, 2 RBI) promptly added a two-run home run off the scoreboard in left center field, his fifth homer this season, as he followed Lacy across the plate. GWU went down in order in the second on a strikeout, ground out and a fly ball.
Longwood left a runner on base in the top of the third inning after a one-out walk to junior captain
Alex Owens/Purcellville (1-4). GWU added a run in the third to make it 3-2, getting a one-out single from JJ Nazzaro (3-4), who later scored with two outs on a double to the right field corner by Scott Coleman (2-4, RBI).
Longwood got a two-single up the middle from freshman
C.J. Roth/Yorktown (2-4) in the top of the fourth inning, though he was left there on another ground out. GWU threatened in the fourth, getting a single from Harris (4-5) followed by a double by Henry Rundio (2-5, RBI) to put runners in scoring position with no outs. Myers, however, struck out three-straight batters to end the inning.
Longwood added three runs on three hits in the fifth inning to lead 6-2, getting consecutive singles from Dickason and Burkett to lead off, before Washington hit perhaps the longest home run hit at the new stadium this year … a towering drive over the right side of scoreboard's ad panel in left center field. It was his team-leading sixth homer this season, a ball that traveled well over 400 feet and thought to be the longest ball hit all spring at the new facility. GWU scored another run in the fifth to make it 6-3 after consecutive singles by Nazzaro and Coleman, before Nazzaro moved to third base on a failed pickoff attempt at first. Collins followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Nazzaro.
Longwood went down in order in the sixth inning, while GWU again had two runners in scoring position after getting a two-out infield single from Ryan Hodge (1-4), who stole second base, ahead of a walk to Nazzaro. Both runners advanced a base on a balk by Myers, though he got out of the two-out, two-on situation yet again with a fly ball to end the inning.
Longwood loaded the bases in the seventh inning but failed to capitalize after Burkett walked with one out, followed by a single from Owens and Lacy getting hit by a pitch with two outs, before a ground ball ended the threat. GWU had another runner in scoring position in the seventh as Harris hit a two-out double to the wall in right center field, but Myers, who struck out the first two batters, got another ground ball out.
Longwood again went down in order in the eighth inning. GWU also went down in order in the eighth -- for only the second time in the game on a pair of ground balls and Myers' ninth strikeout, tying his season and career high.
Longwood was retired in order yet again in the ninth inning, maintaining its three-run lead. GWU promptly got a double off the wall in left field by Nazzaro to lead-off the ninth. A ground ball moved him to third base with one out before Coleman drew a four-pitch walk to put runners on the corners with the tying run at the plate. Nazzaro scored on a ground ball to third that Owens could not get out of the glove, making it a 6-4 game with two runners on base. Harris blooped a single to shallow left center field that loaded the bases, and still only one out. Rundio followed with a run-scoring single to a diving Owens at third base that scored Coleman to make it 6-5, and the bases remained full with one out. Myers got Scott Johnson (0-5) on a shallow fly ball to left field, before coaxing Danny Yelverton (0-5) into a fly ball that Konvicka caught over his shoulder while running away from the infield in center field to dramatically end the game.
Myers (4-2) started and pitched the 9.0 innings for Longwood, scattering 14 hits and five runs, four earned, with two walks and the nine Ks. He threw nearly 150 pitches in the contest for the Lancers' second complete-game effort in two days (
Brandon Vick).
“Aaron got through three major jams in that game and there aren't many pitchers at any level who can do that, but he did it even after we made some mistakes, so that makes what he did today even more monumental for us,” said 35-year Longwood head coach Charles Buddy Bolding. “At the end when it got real tight, he just toughened up. He's a real competitor.
“Historically, we've been an offensive-minded program and we've always been able to score runs. Gardner-Webb is a powerful hitting ball club and we knew we were going to have to score runs to try and stay with them. Fortunately, we had a few breaks that we made the most of and that was the difference in the ball game.”
Heiligenstadt (5-4) started and tossed the first 2.0 innings for Gardner-Webb, yielding four hits and three earned runs, with no walks and two strikeouts. The Bulldogs used five pitchers in the game.
Campbell (47-9) has yet to drop a game at the conference tournament (2-0), so Longwood would need two wins against the Fighting Camels on Friday. A victory in the morning would force a second, seven-inning contest against Campbell on Friday at 5 p.m. for an opportunity to play in the Big South title game on Saturday, May 25 at 4 p.m. on ESPN3.
