March 27, 2007

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took a 17-15 baseball road win at Radford University Tuesday; pounding a season-high 24 hits en route to a season-high 17 runs as well. The Lancers out-slugged the Highlanders 24-19 in hits, led by freshman Frank Berry II/Virginia Beach (First Colonial) (4-6, 3 RBI) with four hits (three doubles). Longwood improved to 21-8 overall with 14 wins in the last 17 games, and will play again on Wednesday, March 28, at the University of Virginia of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in Charlottesville beginning at 5 p.m. The Cavaliers are ranked #6 in this week’s USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll.

At Radford, Longwood opened the slugfest with nine runs in the third inning before the Highlanders responded with three runs in the third, and four more runs in the fourth inning while closing to 9-7. From there, the Lancers took leads of 11-8 after five innings, 14-8 through six innings, 15-9 after seven innings, and 17-11 in the ninth inning before Radford (7-16) added four more runs in the ninth to make it close at the end.

Longwood’s third-inning outburst featured eight hits along with two Radford errors. Senior captain Tyler Ames/Exmore (Northampton) (2-6, RBI) led-off the inning with a double and scored when freshman Topher Ellis/Virginia Beach (First Colonial) (1-6, RBI) reached on a throwing error. Ellis advanced all the way to third on the error and crossed the plate on a wild pitch and a quick 2-0 advantage. Driving-in runs in the frame were Berry with a two-run double, freshman Scott Kimble/Spotsylvania (Spotsylvania) (3-5, 2 RBI) with a two-run single, classmate Phil Cerreto/Midlothian (Midlothian) (2-4, RBI), Ellis with an RBI single, and sophomore Paul Heidler II/Warrenton (Notre Dame Academy) (2-3, 2 RBI) with a sacrifice fly.

In the fifth, sophomore Jon Quigley/Annandale (W.T. Woodson) (3-6, 2 RBI) singled to plate Heidler who had reached on a one-out triple. Quigley scored on a two-out single by Berry. In the sixth, Kimble led-off with a bunt single and later scored on an RBI single from Ames. Heidler’s RBI single plated Cerreto who had reached on another error, and Ames crossed the plate on Quigley’s ground-ball out. In the seventh, Berry doubled for the third time and later scored on a double-play ball. In the ninth, freshman Casey Havers/Thorofare, N.J. (West Deptford) (3-6) doubled with one out and scored with two outs on a triple by sophomore Robbie Bailey/Mechanicsville (Hanover) (2-3, RBI). Bailey came home with the final run via a pinch-hit RBI single from junior Nick von Gersdorff/Purcellville (Loudoun Valley) (1-1, RBI).

Radford made a late run at the Lancers with seven runs in its final three at-bats, including four in the bottom of the ninth. The Highlanders received clutch hits on the day from Alex Gregory (3-6, 4 RBI) with a three-run double in the third, and Steve Mignogna (4-5, 5 RBI) who had two-run singles in both the fourth and ninth innings. Fortunately, Longwood was able to retire the final two batters on strikeouts with the potential game-tying runs at second and third base.

Longwood junior right-handed pitcher Rob Moody/Midlothian (Midlothian) (1-0) got the pitching win with 3.0 innings of middle relief, allowing three hits and two runs, one earned, with four strikeouts and one walk. Radford’s Harrison Helms (1-1) took the mound loss with the first 2.1 innings, allowing five hits and four runs, two earned, with one walk. The two teams combined to use 11 pitchers in the three-hour, sixteen-minute contest.