ASHEVILLE, N.C. – There's craziness and then there is what took place at Greenwood Field this weekend between Longwood and UNC Asheville. A day after splitting a doubleheader and with both teams desperately seeking a win, Longwood used a late rally and a huge 2-run single from C.J. Roth in the top of the ninth to take the series with an 11-9 victory Saturday.
 
In a series chock-full of twists and turns, including 61 runs, 75 hits and eight lead changes, Longwood (18-24, 7-11) emerged victorious in an expectedly wild game three. The Lancers used five pitchers, all of whom pitched on Friday, and received big days at the plate from Kyri Washington and Roth to secure a monstrous victory in the finale.
 
The junior Washington, who was slotted in as the designated hitter, went 3-for-5 with a home run, double and five RBI to lead the Lancers at the plate. The usual left fielder made the most of his at-bats, twice tying the game for the Lancers, including a clutch, two-out, RBI-single in the eighth.
 
With the game tied, Roth produced another clutch knock. The left-handed hitting junior laced a curveball off of southpaw reliever Adam Spracklin to plate the game-winning runs in the top of the ninth.
 
"Kyri had three big-time at-bats for us," said head coach Ryan Mau. "He lived up to the hype today and did a great job of coming through in the clutch for us every-single time today. Then, C.J. Roth had a big left-on-left at-bat in the ninth to give us a lead."
 
With that lead, Longwood turned to ace Aaron Myers, who threw over 100 pitches in his start on Friday. It was a move of necessity as Longwood had used all but two pitchers already on the weekend. Myers was feeling it and looking for redemption. The senior found it in a perfect ninth and earned his 17^th-career save, the new Longwood record, and secured the big series victory.
 
"That's one of the crazier weekends I've ever been a part of," said Mau. "I'm unbelievably proud of the fight in our team. To go back and forth like that all weekend long and continue to find answers when we needed them was incredibly impressive. This is a huge character win and series win for us this weekend."
 
Asheville (18-26, 4-14) secured an early lead in the bottom of the second thanks to a leadoff home run from cleanup hitter Hunter Bryant. The Bulldog first baseman turned around a Travis Burnette offering and sent a shot off the scoreboard in left center field. Longwood was able to limit the damage to just the single run in the inning though, as Burnette induced an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
 
Much like the pair of games yesterday, Longwood was able to strike right back in the third to level the game at 1-1. Eight-hole hitter Mac McCafferty lined a leadoff single to right field and advanced to second on C.J. Roth's sacrifice bunt. A ground ball moved McCafferty to third before the Longwood backstop scored on a wild pitch.
 
An inning later, Longwood would take its first lead on the back of Kyri Washington's team-leading and career-high ninth home run. The Lancer designated hitter sent the first pitch of the fourth inning, a Tyler Hughes fastball on the outer-third, rocketing over the left center field wall for the 2-1 advantage.
 
That's when the game turned into yet another seesaw affair, with Asheville answering right back to retake the lead in the bottom half. A hit batsman started the inning off for the Bulldogs which was followed by a single to left on which the runner scored after a bobble by Hayes Nelson.  The run tied the game and Asheville snagged the lead on Bryant's double down the right field line, his second extra-base hit of the game.
 
The Bulldogs weren't done either, extending the lead to 4-2 on an infield single and then chasing Burnette after a walk put two aboard with one out. Longwood turned to Luke Simpson, who came on early for the second day in a row, and the relief ace finally shut down the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
 
The scoring trend did not end there as it was Longwood's turn to even the game up in the fifth. After Colton Konvicka's singled on a hard-hit grounder which ricocheted off the glove of the Asheville hurler, Connar Bastaich walked to set up another big Washington knock. This time, the Lancer slugger crushed a two-run double off the left field wall to knot the game and pick up his second and third RBI of the game.
 
Longwood would turn the inning into an explosive frame with three more runs as the Lancers batted around and employed four hits to score the five runs, all with two outs. Freshman Michael Osinski delivered the lead on an RBI-double that just snuck inside the third base bag. A passed ball allowed Delk to score from third before a throwing error saw Osinski score to make it 7-4 midway through the game.
 
After Asheville added a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 7-5 game, the Bulldogs grabbed the lead again in the bottom of the seventh with a four-run frame. Three-straight singles to open the home half chased Luke Simpson with the bases loaded. With the left-handed hitting Tommy Houmard up for the Bulldogs, Longwood went to lefty Brandon Vick out of the bullpen.
 
Unfortunately, Houmard turned on an 0-1 pitch and ripped in down the right field line, eluding the diving Bastaich at first and just staying fair for a bases-clearing triple and an 8-7 lead. The Lancers again played the matchups going to the pen for Ryan Jones (2-0) who finished the inning, but allowed the final run on a sacrifice fly.
 
Yet again, Longwood was able to answer right back on two outs as the blue and white evened the game at 9-9 thanks to a pair of walks and a pair of singles. Roth led with a single to left, before Konvicka and Bastaich walked with Roth scoring on ball four as the pitch skipped away. With runners on the corners, it once again fell to Washington to deliver the big knock and the three-hole did not disappoint, rifling a game-tying single through the left side.
 
After Jones worked a three-up, three-down bottom half, the Lancers struck in the top of the ninth, again on two outs. After walks to Osinski and Nelson, both men advanced to second and third on wild pitches before C.J. Roth lined a single to center plating both runners and giving Longwood an 11-9 lead.
 
"I was a little out in front of the first curveball," said Roth of the final at-bat. "Coach Ox yelled down the line 'stay behind it, stay behind it' and I did so just enough to hit it up the middle and it felt good to get it done for the team today."
 
To top off the craziness of Saturday's finale, the Lancers turned to senior captain Aaron Myers to close the door in the ninth. A day after tossing over 100 pitches in game one of the series, Myers worked a perfect ninth, striking out the first two Bulldogs before inducing a routine fly ball to left to end the game, clinch the series and break Longwood's career saves record.
 
"Honestly, today my arm actually felt better than it did yesterday which is a surprise," said Myers with a chuckle. "Coach asked me this morning if I could go and I told him I really wasn't feeling up to it, but I would let him know at the field. Once I started tossing my arm felt pretty good and I was ready to go."
 
Myers slammed the door in what was a pivotal Big South series with tournament hopes on the line as the season heads down the final stretch.
 
"It's a big win," said Myers. "We definitely needed to win this series to keep our chances alive and with the way we came back in those two games and just kept fighting, I think we'll use this momentum heading into these last few games."
 
Alive the Lancers certainly are as the blue and white should shake out in eighth place after the remaining games around the conference are finished this weekend. Longwood will step out of conference play next weekend against NC State before facing two crucial series against Gardner-Webb and Winthrop to finish the season.
 
#GoWood