FARMVILLE, Va. – An eight-run third inning and a shut-down relief effort from Nathan Light were enough for VMI to outlast Longwood 14-7 in a non-conference Commonwealth clash Tuesday afternoon at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
Light (1-3) took over for Keydets starter Jacob Menders in the top of the second and held Longwood (10-34) to one run on three hits in his 5.0 innings of work. His offense rewarded him with the lead during an eight-run third inning that saw VMI (13-32) tie the game on a solo home run by Ryan Hatten and then nickel and dime the Lancers with eight more hits, all singles.
That rally-starting shot from Hatten was one of three hits on the day from the VMI first baseman, who added an RBI single that same inning. Outfielder Nathan Loyd finished 4-for-4 to pace a Keydet offense that tagged 17 hits against a depleted Longwood pitching staff.
Longwood got three doubles from junior first baseman
Jacob Mitchell and a pair of RBI from redshirt senior
Jawan McAllister.
The Lancers opened the game strong, stringing together singles from
Antwaun Tucker and
Jack Schnell in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Starter Alec Abdallah (0-4) retired the first six batters he faced to take that lead into the third, but VMI blew the game open shortly after, beginning with Hatten's equalizer over the left field wall.
That game-changing inning got new life when Jake Huggins and Will Knight sent two come-backers at Abdallah, who knocked both down with his glove but could not corral them in time for a play. After those two infield singles, the Keydets plated six more runs with one out before Longwood reliever
Bryan Golnick closed out the inning.
Golnick stayed on to strike out four over his 3.2 total innings and take the game into seventh. However, the Lancers were then forced to go into their bullpen and beyond, getting two outs from freshman sidearmer
Brayden Williamson and then back-to-back appearances by a pair of position players in outfielder
Eric Crain and freshman infielder
Hunter Gilliam.
Crain and Gilliam retired four of the first five batters they faced, including a perfect 1-2-3 eighth from the newly crowned Longwood Freshman Athlete of the Year Gilliam. Gilliam, who stuck around to draw a walk and score in the next half inning, needed just 10 pitches to sit down the middle of VMI's batting order in his first inning of work.
VMI went deep into its bullpen as well, using five total pitchers. However, Light's exit after the sixth opened the door for a Longwood comeback bid, as the Lancers pushed across five runs in the seventh and eight to cut VMI's lead to 11-7. McAllister and
Jacob Mitchell drove in a pair of those, and junior third baseman
De'Andre Pitts punctuated a three-run eighth with a two-run triple in the right field corner.
That late charge was short-lived though, as the Keydets swung the momentum back in their favor in their next turn at the plate and got back three of those runs after Gilliam left the game. The first two came on Knight's two-out, two-run single, and the last came on a failed pickoff attempt to first base.
The loss comes in the midst of a 10-game homestand for the Lancers, who will break from competition for Longwood's exam week. Navy, where head coach
Ryan Mau spent four season as associate head coach prior to taking over at Longwood in 2015, will come to town this Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5, for a two-game series. Longwood will then host N.C. Central on May 8 in its final non-conference game and wrap up the 2019 home schedule with a three-game Big South series against Presbyterian on May 10-12.
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