BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Some may call them cardiac kids, but one thing is for certain: the Lancers play their best baseball with their backs against the wall. Facing elimination against fourth seed Liberty, they did it again as sophomore Brandon Harvell played the hero roping a bases-loaded, two-out single to center field in the top of the ninth to send Longwood past the Flames 4-3 at the Big South Baseball Championship presented by Hardee's and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
 
Harvell has done a bit of everything this season for the Lancers, spending time at second, shortstop and third during the regular season. Yesterday, the sophomore moved out to right field and today Harvell delivered perhaps his biggest hit as a Lancer to eliminate the rival Flames. After watching Liberty (33-23) intentionally walk Colton Konvicka, Harvell stepped in for his moment. Down 1-2 in the count to hard-throwing reliever Ashton Perritt, the two-hole hitter got a pitch out over the plate and he didn't miss.
 
"I saw they were intentionally walking Colton and that gave me a little extra drive to get the job done at the plate," said Harvell. "I had been struggling all day at the plate and just wanted to put the ball in play and see what would happen."
 
The RBI-single put Longwood (22-33) up 4-3 and Travis Burnette (3-3) made sure that was all the Lancers would need. Coming out of the bullpen with the game tied in the seventh, Burnette worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win while allowing three hits. It wasn't easy for Burnette, who twice stranded the potential go-ahead run at third in the seventh and eighth frames. With the one-run advantage in the ninth, Burnette worked around a two-out single to slam the door in a dramatic, come-from-behind victory.
 
"I'm really proud of the fight in our team, not just today, but all year long," said head coach Ryan Mau after his first tournament win as a skipper. "We've had our backs against the wall on numerous occasions and they continue to impress and continue to deliver."
 
For the second day in a row, Longwood found itself in an early hole as Liberty struck twice in the bottom of the third inning on a trio of infield singles and a Lancer error. A line drive off the bat of Alex Close was knocked down at second by C.J. Roth, but the hurried throw to first skipped wide and allowed Liberty to take a 1-0 lead. After a walk loaded the bases, Will Shepherd was hit-by-pitch to force in a second run in the frame.
 
After Liberty jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, Washington brought Longwood back even with one swing of the bat in the fourth. After Brandon Harvell singled to lead the inning off, the Lancer left fielder found an elevated 2-0 fastball and crushed it to the opposite field. The blast went towering over the right field wall and off the field house at John Henry Moss Stadium to knot the game at 2-2.
 
The Lancers weren't done in the frame as Travis Biddix followed with a single and advanced to second when the throw sailed wide. After a perfect sacrifice bunt from Connar Bastaich, third baseman Alex Lewis played the sacrifice game as the sophomore lifted a deep fly ball to left center, scoring Biddix from third for the 3-2 lead.
 
The three-run frame rejuvenated sophomore starter Luke Simpson on the mound as the right-hander settled back in after laboring through the third inning. Simpson, who was spectacular a month ago in relief against Liberty, matched his longest outing of his young career by going 6 1/3 innings and allowing three runs, all earned on seven hits.
 
A solo shot off the bat of Ashton Perritt just crept inside of the left field foul pole in the bottom of the seventh to bring Liberty back level and chase Simpson with a no decision, despite the strong, quality start.
 
Even then, Simpson did all that was asked and more in getting Longwood to the late innings with the ballgame tied at 3-3.
 
"We came right out of the gate and set the tone that we were going to pitch today," said Mau. "Luke did an excellent job of getting us off on the right foot."
 
With the game hanging in the balance, Longwood turned the ball over to Travis Burnette and the junior, brought the Lancers home with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. The right-hander ran into his share of trouble, allowing the go-ahead run to reach third in both the seventh and eighth innings. But, the veteran wiggled out of both jams, getting a strikeout in the seventh and a grounder in the eighth to quell the threat.
 
"We just wanted to attack them and fill up the strike zone with the game so close," said Burnette of his late game magic. "Being able to get ahead and into advantage counts really helped get us out of those innings."
 
After the scoreless eighth inning, Big South Pitcher of the Year Jared Lyons left the game in the top of the ninth after issuing a leadoff walk followed by Mac McCafferty's two-strike single to put a pair aboard with no outs.
 
Ashton Perritt came on out of center field to relieve Lyons and retired Michael Osinski on a sacrifice bunt which moved the runners to second and third. The hard throwing right hander got a strikeout for the second out before issuing an intentional walk to load the bases. That brought up Brandon Harvell, who was 1-for-4 to that point with back-to-back strikeouts in his last two at-bats.
 
With a ball and two strikes, Harvell laced what would be the game-winning knock up the middle, scoring the pinch-runner Sammy Miller from third to take the 4-3 lead.
 
Burnette would finish off the game, working around a two-out single to send Longwood to Thursday and eliminating rival Liberty. It was a win which was made that much sweeter by coming against the Lancers' biggest rival.
 
"That's a team that any time you face them, you want to take it to them," said Burnette. "They're right down the road from us and a very good team who always battle us, so being able to do what we did today against a team like that was very big."
 
Longwood now awaits the loser of Radford and High Point for another elimination game Thursday night at approximately 6 p.m.
 
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