March 25, 2007
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took a 4-3 baseball victory past visiting Princeton University Sunday at Lancer Stadium in Farmville. The Lancers improved to 20-8 overall this season, including 18-5 at home, as freshman Topher Ellis/Virginia Beach (First Colonial) (1-2, RBI) singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to score classmate Frank Berry II/Virginia Beach (First Colonial) (0-3) with the winning run. Longwood won two of three games against Princeton (4-10) during the three-game weekend series, and will play again on Tuesday, March 27, at Radford University beginning at 3 p.m..
Princeton took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning when Sal Iacono (2-5, RBI) singled with two outs scoring Brandon Englert (0-2) who had walked. Longwood came right back with a run in its half of the third as freshman Scott Kimble/Spotsylvania (Spotsylvania) (1-3) doubled down the left-field line with one out and crossed the plate on an RBI single from senior captain Tyler Ames/Exmore (Northampton) (2-4, 2 RBI). The Lancers went ahead 2-1 in the fifth inning as sophomore Robbie Bailey/Mechanicsville (Hanover) (1-4) singled to lead-off, stole second base, moved to third on Kimble’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Ames.
Princeton went back in front 3-2 in the seventh inning as Dan DeGeorge (1-5, 2 RBI) delivered a two-run double down the right-field line with one out to plate Derek Beckman (2-3) and Greg Van Horn (2-6) after Beckman singled and Van Horn reached on a fielder’s choice. Longwood again responded with a run in its half of the seventh to tie it at 3-3 when sophomore Jon Quigley/Annandale (W.T. Woodson) (1-4, RBI) produced a one-out sacrifice fly to center field that brought Ames across the plate after Ames had reached on a bunt single to the right-side of the infield.
Berry drew the lead-off walk for Longwood in the 11th, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bailey. After another out was recorded, Ames was walked as well before Ellis promptly singled up the middle to score Berry with the game-winning run in extra innings as the Lancers reached 20 wins for the 26th time in the program’s 29 years.
Freshman Lance Harting/Ballston Spa, N.Y. (Ballston Spa) (1-0) earned his first collegiate pitching win in late relief, facing one batter in the 11th inning and registering one out on a fly ball in one-third of an inning. Junior John Farrell/Nantucket, Mass. (Nantucket) had started and pitched the first 6.1 innings, scattering six hits and three earned runs with five strikeouts and three walks. Senior Needham Jones III/Portsmouth (Woodrow Wilson) pitched 4.1 scoreless innings of relief, allowing three hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Gavin Fabian (0-3) took the mound loss for Princeton with the final 4.1 innings of relief, yielding two hits and one earned run with three strikeouts and two walks.
The three-game series against Princeton, a program that won the Ivy League last year while advancing to the NCAA Regional Tournament, showcased the first-ever night games at Lancer Stadium on Friday and Saturday nights. The first-ever meetings between the two schools as well drew a series record-crowd of 1,850 to Lancer Stadium (850, 750, 250) over the weekend as the Lancers have now won 13 of their last 16 games this spring.
