CHARLESTON, S.C. – Longwood baseball got going early on offense in the second game of the series at Charleston Southern on Friday night.
 
However, a late rally by the Bucs (21-14, 7-7 Big South) gave them the 15-11 win to take the series with one game to play against Longwood (10-29, 4-10 Big South).
 
Once again, a spread attack powered the Lancers on offense, as eight Lancers had a hit, eight Lancers scored, and seven drove in runs. Jae'dan Carter and Carter Newman had multi-hit games to lead the team, with Carter adding two runs and two RBI.
 
CSU's Kaden Smith matched it with a big day of his own, going 3-5 at the plate with seven RBI to drive in nearly half of his team's 15 runs on the day.
 
SCORING:
               R             H            E
LWU      11           10           3
CSU       15           10           3
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The Lancer offense came out scorching over the first three innings. Myles Webb singled in a run, and Longwood was off and running in the first inning.
 
Carter Newman poked an RBI single through, Mikey Urbaniak doubled in two runs, and Jayson Nash doubled home another for a 6-0 lead after half an inning.
 
Smith swatted a homer in the home half of the first as part of CSU's answer, but the Lancers added three more in the second. Mac Tufts and Bentley Yeatts combined to drive in three runs to make it 9-2.
 
Smith, again, followed up with the parry. This time he hit a grand slam, and AJ Martin added a solo homer to trim it to 9-7.
 
Carter then swatted a solo home run, the first of his college career, for Longwood, for a 10-7 lead through three innings.
 
Back-to-back two-run innings gave CSU the lead in the sixth, but Carter doubled in Tufts in the seventh to knot the game at 11.
 
CSU struck the decisive blow in the eighth by taking advantage of back-to-back errors on the Lancers to load the bases with nobody out. A sac fly, a bunt single and a double from Smith plated four runs for the final tally.
 
Wyatt Bunch (1-3) took the tough luck loss. He was sharp for 2.1 innings after coming on in relief and retiring six straight, but the back-to-back errors led to four unearned runs in the eighth.
 
Tyler Henshaw (5-1) earned the win for CSU. He was solid for three innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

WHAT THEY SAID:

"This one stung. We wasted a really good offensive output with subpar pitching and lackluster defense, especially late," said Longwood Head Coach Ray Noe. "We have to find ways to make plays late in games to give ourselves a chance to stay in it."

"At the end of the day, it's all about us, and it starts with me," Noe said. "We need to look in the mirror, take accountability, and be better."
 
UP NEXT:
 
The final game of the series is set for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+.
 
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