FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood baseball may be young, but they grew up in a hurry on Tuesday night against Boston College.
An array of freshman came through in the clutch, and the Lancers (3-9) walked off Boston College 13-12 in a thriller at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
Jayson Nash, a freshman, delivered the knockout blow with an RBI single up the gut.
Mikey Urbaniak, also a freshman, tied the game one batter prior with an RBI triple to right.
"I told them after the game, it's really hard when I keep telling them about the progress and growth that we've made and we're not getting the end result of a win," said Longwood Head Coach
Ray Noe. "But they're doing such a good job of pushing out the negative thoughts and believing in it and trusting the process and sticking to the systems, and today was kind of the culminating example of how if you stick to it, good stuff will happen."
On the mound,
Braydon Gray, a freshman, got the win over the Eagles (4-5) by pitching the final two innings and limiting the damage to give the offense a chance.
And they seized it. Longwood plated seven runs combined in the eighth and ninth to roar back from an 11-6 hole heading into the bottom of the eighth.
"It took everyone.
Quincy Sippio steals a base in the ninth when everyone knows he's running to get in scoring position, that probably gets a little bit overlooked," Noe said. "Then you've got the young kids Mikey and Jayson who were in the thick of it. And they put quality swings on the baseball and put the baseball in play with two strikes and good stuff is happening. These kids are growing up in front of our eyes, and it's just fun to watch.
"It is this team's M.O. right now. When there's an opposition punch, we punch back. Then they punch, and we punch back again. Today we were on the winning end because obviously when we did punch back, we got a couple of crooked numbers, especially there in the eighth and ninth Seven runs in the last two innings, it's kind of déjà vu of what Albany did against us, it's good to be on this side of it."
The top of the order of Tre Keels,
James Nelson and
Myles Webb got on base, and Urbaniak, Nash and
Mac Tufts drove them in. Then, the same story rang true again in the ninth as Urbaniak and Nash were the finishers.
The Lancer offense, which came in scorching with at least 10 hits in each of its previous four games, stayed hot by piling up 14 hits that led to 13 runs, and all nine players in the batting order reached base safely at least once. Eight players had a hit, and six players had an RBI.
Nash set a career best with three base hits and continued a run that has seen him hit safely in all eight of his collegiate games. Urbaniak, fresh off his first collegiate RBI and hit over the weekend, had a three-hit day as well, and he scored a team high four runs. The duo drove in two runs apiece.
Tufts, meanwhile, went 2-3 with a team-leading three RBI while also drawing two walks.
"Mikey, Jayson, and Mac in particular, I think they love playing, and the moment is never too big," said Noe. "They've done a really good job of taking advantage of their opportunities. Mikey and Nash were two guys who weren't in the starting lineup for the first five or six games. Mac's been in there from the jump, and he's done a good job. But those guys are just incredible. They're catalysts there in the middle and towards the bottom of the lineup where they've settled into their role, and it is making the offense click right now, which has been awesome."
Vince Cimini had a big day for Boston College, piling up four hits and five RBI, and the Eagles scored a run in eight of the nine innings. However, Longwood avoided the knockout blow while delivering a haymaker of its own.
Gray (1-0) picked up the win for Longwood after tossing the final two innings. He gave up two runs on four hits.
Eric Schroeder (0-1) took the loss for Boston College. He gave up three runs, all unearned, on three hits without a walk while striking out two.
"We were in a different position offensively a couple weeks ago, but this is college baseball to a T. Keep pushing forward," Noe said. "Keep sticking to the day-to-day processes and what we do. I firmly believe we'll play the end game with this group, and the experience that all these kids—and that this team—is getting from battling adversity and being on the wrong side and now finally being on the right side is continuing to harden our team. As we go, I feel pretty confident that there's not a moment that we can't handle. We may not be on the positive side every time, but we'll be ready and we'll be prepared."
Longwood returns to the diamond on Friday, March 7 when the team heads to Tysons, Virginia to take on Towson as part of a weekend series against Towson, George Mason and Georgetown. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. Friday night, with Longwood taking on George Mason on Saturday and Georgetown on Sunday.
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