LEXINGTON, Va. – Tuesday night was Miller Time, once again.
Longwood baseball senior captain
Sammy Miller raised the bar even higher on his torrid second half by stringing together a career day at the plate against VMI, cranking a fifth-inning grand slam that highlighted a team-wide offensive explosion in Longwood's 11-9 win over the Keydets (14-17) at Gray-Minor Stadium.
The home run was only the second career bomb for Longwood's leadoff man Miller, but it came just two days after the senior outfielder hit his first homer in a win against Big South rival Radford this past Sunday. His follow-up Tuesday at VMI saw him drive in a career-high five RBI in a 2-for-4 effort that also included two runs scored and a double.
Nate Blakeney also homered for Longwood (10-21), while
Justin Mitchell and
Grant Keller added two RBI apiece. The Lancers needed nearly every bit of that offense to get past VMI in Tuesday's rematch, using a seven-run cushion to hold off a late charge that saw the Keydets break through with eight runs in the middle innings.
"It was a big day offensively, and we needed every run," said Longwood head coach
Ryan Mau, whose win Tuesday came against the VMI program where he spent five seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2006-10.
"We took our free passes and landed a few big swings at the right time. [Zach] Potojecki gave us a better start tonight, and [Jon] Peterson threw the ball well out of the pen. The hitters stayed focused and kept putting quality at-bats together, allowing Miller to land the biggest swing of the night."
Tuesday's onslaught is the latest in a red-hot second half for Miller, who is hitting .425 over his past 11 games with 17 hits, seven walks, 11 runs scored, nine stolen bases and five extra-base knocks. He has raised his batting average from .260 to .301 during that stretch and now sits atop Longwood's leaderboard in batting average, slugging percentage and on base percentage.
And just as Miller has heated up, so too have the Lancers, who are playing their best baseball of the season with three wins in their past five games. They have scored 10-plus runs in two of those wins, including Tuesday night's victory which came in score-settling fashion after VMI upended the Lancers 12-6 in Farmville exactly one week ago.
Longwood's junior reliever Peterson took a cue from Miller by turning in a heroic effort of his own Tuesday, entering the game in the seventh with the go-ahead run at the plate and holding VMI to one run over the final 3.1 innings to pick up his first career save.
That VMI rally took four innings to get started against Longwood right-hander
Zach Potojecki (1-1), who gave up just one hit and struck out four over his first 3.0 innings of work. But the Keydets finally broke through against the Potojecki in the fourth, capping a three-run inning with a two-run homer by first baseman Collin Fleischer.
VMI added two more runs in the fifth, knocking Potojecki out of the game in the process, and then touched up Longwood's bullpen for three more in the sixth.
However, with the lead trimmed to just 11-8, Mau turned to Peterson to stop the bleeding, and the junior southpaw followed through by escaping a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and then holding VMI to just one run the rest of the way. It tied for the longest outing of the season for the 6-1 southpaw, who issued just one walk and whose only hit allowed was a solo home run by Matt Pita in the eighth.
Longwood will have a chance to continue its hot streak this weekend with an upcoming Big South series against UNC Asheville, whom the Lancers are battling for one of eight spots in the 2018 Big South Championship tournament. The Bulldogs enter the matchup two games ahead of Longwood in the standings.
Saturday's game two of the series will air on ESPN3, while Sunday's will air on the Big South Network.
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