ROCK HILL, S.C. – Longwood baseball brought the bats and sprayed the ball all over the field on Friday afternoon at The Winthrop Ballpark. The result? A season-best 20 hits that paved the way to a 16-7 win over Winthrop to open a three-game series.
One through nine in the batting order produced at the plate for a Longwood (17-27, 10-20 Big South) side that is on fire, having won six of its past eight. Ten players had a base hit for a Longwood side that put double digit hits for the eighth time in its past nine games and 20 hits for the first time since the 2016 season.
The young guns led the way, with freshman
Michael Dolberry and
Hayden Harris combining for seven hits. Dolberry went 4-6 with a double and three RBI, career bests in both hits and RBI. Harris went 3-4 with two doubles and a walk. Sophomore catcher
Drayven Kowalski had a career day of his own, going 3-6 at the plate. He was one of six players with at least two hits, with
Eliot Dix,
Hunter Gilliam and
Andrew Gorham all posting two hits.
Gilliam matched Dolberry with three RBI as seven players drove in a run for the Lancers.
Eliot Dix, Kowalski and
Ricky Jimenez each added two RBI. Plus, eight players scored a run for Longwood.
Meanwhile,
Dylan Saale (2-3) excelled on the mound, as the true freshman cruised in an efficient outing. The right-hander needed only 86 pitches to work through seven innings of two-run ball, with only one of those runs being earned. It was Saale's longest start in his young Lancer career, and he struck out three while walking three.
"Our offense was firing on all cylinders today," said Longwood head coach
Ryan Mau. "The entire lineup produced, which allowed Saale to settle in quickly and take over on the mound. He was masterful in mixing all of his pitches and was able to get us back swinging the bats quickly each inning. Defensively, we made all the routine plays and a few stellar ones.
Michael Peterson and
Andrew Gorhamn came up with big diving catches early on to keep momentum on our side."
His offense gave him all the run support he needed in the first three innings, racking up 11 hits and nine runs. That allowed the Lancers to chase Winthrop (15-25, 12-19 Big South) starter Tyler Jones (1-6) before the end of the third inning. He took the loss after surrendering seven runs on nine hits in 2.2 innings.
Harris scored the opening run after leading off the game with a double, one of the three times he crossed home plate on the day, and he drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second. Dolberry scored a run and hammered an RBI double, and Kowalski ripped a pair of RBI singles to the outfield in the first three innings on the way to a career-best three RBI.
The onslaught continued through the seventh, with Gilliam driving in two runs with a double in the fifth to go with a solo homer to left in the seventh that pushed the lead to 15-2. It was his third home run of the season.
Winthrop managed to load the bases and push across five runs in the eighth, but it was too late.
The two sides square off for a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. The first game starts at noon, and Longwood is scheduled to send right-hander
Dominick D'Ercole to the mound to face off against right-hander Colten Rendon for Winthrop. The game will be aired on ESPN+.
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