April 19, 2006
BOX SCORE
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Longwood University dropped a 3-1 collegiate baseball decision at Virginia Tech Wednesday night in Blacksburg. The Lancers dropped to 18-21 this season, while the Hokies improved to 16-22 with the home win. Longwood will play again this weekend, April 22-23, hosting North Carolina A&T for a three-game series at Lancer Stadium beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m..
Playing Virginia Tech for the first time since 1987, and only the sixth time overall, Longwood took an early 1-0 in the first inning and led until the sixth inning when the Hokies tied it at 1-1. Tech finally went ahead at 2-1 with another run in the seventh inning, and added an insurance run in the eighth inning for the hard-fought, two-run home victory.
In the first, junior captain Tyler Ames/Exmore (Northampton) (2-4) opened with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Nick von Gersdorff/Purcellville (Loudoun Valley) (2-3), and scored on an RBI single by redshirt sophomore captain Zach Zigrang/Virginia Beach (Kempsville) (1-4, RBI).
Virginia Tech tied the contest in the sixth when Nate Parks (2-4, RBI) hit a two-out RBI triple to score Matt Foley (0-2) who had reached earlier on a lead-off walk. The Hokies took the lead in the seventh when Luke Padgett (1-3) singled and later scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by Matt Hacker (0-2, RBI). Tech’s run in the eighth was scored unearned on a wild pitch that allowed Sean Ryan (1-2) to cross the plate after reaching on a single, stealing second, and advancing to third on an error.
Longwood did load the bases in the eighth inning after a one-out single by von Gersdorff was followed by back-to-back two-out walks. Unfortunately, the Lancers could not score any further runs. Freshman Paul Heidler/Warrenton (Notre Dame Academy) (2-3) also had two hits, including a double, for the visitors.
Freshman Kevin Light/Mechanicsville (Hanover) (2-6) took the hard-luck pitching loss despite a very solid 7.0 innings, scattering just five hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts.
Rhett Ballard (2-2) earned the mound win for Virginia Tech with the first 7.0 innings, yielding eight hits and one earned run with three strikeouts. Adam Redd (2) got the save with the final 2.0 innings, allowing one hit with three strikeouts (consecutively in the ninth inning).
