May 13, 2006
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University rallied back from a 10-2 deficit after five innings for a dramatic 11-10 come-from-behind collegiate baseball triumph past visiting Delaware State Saturday at Lancer Stadium in Farmville. Junior Ryan Rowe/Richmond (Varina) (2-4, RBI) completed the remarkable comeback victory with a two-out, game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to score sophomore Nick von Gersdorff/Purcellville (Loudoun Valley) (1-5) who had led-off the inning with a single. The Lancers improved to 23-25 while winning their final home game of the campaign, finishing the 2006 season with a record of 19-9 at Lancer Stadium. It is the biggest comeback in the 28-year history of the program. Longwood will play a two-game season-ending series at the College of William and Mary on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 16-17, each game against the Tribe beginning at 7 p.m..
Against Delaware State, Longwood fell behind 5-0 before scoring a run in the third inning to trail 5-1. The Lancers scored another run in the fourth to close to within 5-2, however, the Hornets plated five runs in the fifth inning to lead 10-2. LU added a run in the sixth to make it 10-3, scored three runs in the seventh inning to climb within 10-6, and pushed four runs across in the eighth to tie the game at 10-10 to set-up the exciting finish in the ninth inning.
In the seventh, Rowe and junior captain Tyler Ames/Exmore (Northampton) (1-3) drew back-to-back walks to open the frame. With two outs, classmate Tyler Childress/Montclair (Forest Park) (2-5, 2 RBI) came through with a clutch double down the left field line to score both runners. Freshman Jon Quigley/Annandale (W.T. Woodson) (3-5, RBI) followed with another two-out clutch hit, ironically, another double down the left field line to score Childress.
In the eighth, Rowe reached on a fielder’s choice for the second out before Ames again drew a walk. Freshman Paul Heidler/Warrenton (Notre Dame Academy) (3-5, 3 RBI) came through this time with the clutch two-out hit, a two-run single scoring the runners. After a pair of wild pitches moved Heidler to third, redshirt sophomore captain Zach Zigrang/Virginia Beach (Kempsville) (2-3, 2 RBI) blasted a towering two-run home run to left field, tying the game (10-10) with his team-leading sixth homer this season.
Heidler and Quigley each collected three hits to lead Longwood, while Childress (two doubles), Zigrang, and Rowe each added two hits to the 15-hit attack. Heidler also had three RBI, including a run scoring single in the third, to lead the Lancers, while Childress and Zigrang each contributed two RBI to the winning efforts. Childress also scored in the fourth with two outs when Quigley induced a run-down situation between first and second base.
Junior pitching ace Brian McCullough/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) (7-3) picked-up the mound win for Longwood with the final 1.0 scoreless inning of relief, allowing no hits with one strikeout. In total, the Lancers used five pitchers on the day as sophomore Rob Moody/Midlothian (Midlothian) was most-effective over 3.0 shutout innings of middle relief, scattering three hits with four strikeouts.
Delaware State (16-34-2) was led by Brandon Gravely (2-5, 2 RBI), Tyler Hostetter (2-5, 2 RBI), and Jon Ricketts (1-4, 2 RBI). Gravely had a pair of doubles on the day, while Ricketts (0-1) also took the tough-luck pitching loss with the final 1.0 inning in relief, yielding two hits and one earned run with one strikeout.
