March 21, 2010

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University dropped a 12-5 decision in baseball to visiting Rider University of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Sunday afternoon at Bolding Stadium in Farmville. The Lancers (9-8) dropped three of four games to the Broncs (9-8) who collected 42 runs and 58 hits during the weekend series. Longwood will play again on Wednesday night, March 24, at VCU of the Colonial Athletic Association in a game to be played at The Diamond in Richmond beginning at 7 p.m..

Rider scored single runs in the first and second innings to lead 2-0 before Longwood scored three runs in the second to lead 3-2. The Broncs added another run in the third to tie it at 3-3 but the Lancers answered with two more runs in the third to lead 5-3. RU scored for the fourth-straight inning in the fourth to close to within 5-4 and it remained a one-run lead for LU until the seventh inning when Rider plated six runs to lead 10-5. The visitors added two more runs in the ninth for the final seven-run margin of victory.

Longwood was led by seniors Casey Havers/Thorofare, N.J. (West Deptford) (2-4) and Robbie Bailey/Mechanicsville (Hanover) (2-3, RBI) with two hits each, including a run-scoring double in the second by Bailey. Senior David Smiy Jr./Chesterfield (Matoaca) (0-3, RBI), junior Brant Jones/Richmond (Monacan) (1-4, RBI), along with sophomores Robby Newman/Virginia Beach (Salem) (1-3, RBI) and Michael Sims/Stafford (North Stafford) (1-2, RBI) each contributed RBI for the Lancers, including a lead-off solo home run to left by Jones in the third, his second homer this year. Smiy had a ground-ball RBI in the second, as did Newman, while Sims added an RBI single in the second as well.

Rider was led by A.J. Albee (3-5, 2 RBI) with three hits and two RBI, while Brandon Cotten (2-2, 3 RBI) had two hits and three RBI, and Mason Heyne (2-5, 2 RBI) added two hits and two RBI. Chris LeRoy (1-0) was credited with the pitching win for the Broncs with two-thirds of an inning of relief, yielding no hits with no strikeouts and one walk.

Longwood senior Chris Briere/Midlothian (James River) (2-2) took the mound loss in late relief, pitching one-third of an inning while allowing four hits and five runs, all earned, with no strikeouts and one walk. Sophomore Matt Gwaltney/Chesterfield (Matoaca) tossed 3.0 scoreless innings of relief for the Lancers, scattering four hits with one strikeout and no walks.