4.11.2012

BOX SCORE

LEXINGTON, Va. – Longwood University took an 8-6 baseball victory on the road at future Big South Conference rival Virginia Military Institute Wednesday evening at Gray-Minor Stadium in Lexington.  The Lancers won their third-straight game and improved to 18-16 while led by freshman Brandon Delk|Newport News (Warwick) with four hits, including two home runs, senior captain Robby Newman|Virginia Beach (Salem) with a homer and four RBI, and freshman Joey Varaksa|Charlottesville (Albemarle) added a home run, while classmate Brandon Vick|Newport News (Warwick) had the pitching win against the Keydets (11-22).  Longwood will play again next Tuesday night, April 17, hosting in-state opponent VCU of the Colonial Athletic Association at Charles Buddy Bolding Stadium in Farmville at 7 p.m.
   
Longwood scored four runs in the first, one in second, one in the third, one in the fifth, and one in the ninth.  VMI scored one run in the second, two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, and a final run in the ninth.  In the first, sophomore and captain Matt Dickason|Chesapeake (Indian River) (0-4) walked to open the game, moved to second on a single by classmate Scott Burkett|Williamsburg (Jamestown) (3-5), and scored on an RBI single from junior Justin Lacy|Glen Allen (J.R. Tucker) (2-5, RBI).  Newman (2-5, 4 RBI) followed with a three-run home run to right field for his team-leading 10th homer this season and the early 4-0 advantage.  Newman added a run-scoring double in the second to plate Burkett who had also doubled, while in the third, Delk (4-4, 2 RBI) hit a one-out, solo home run to left field.  Delk followed with another one-out, solo homer to left in the fifth for his second of the game, and third home run this spring as the Lancers led 7-1.  Varaksa (1-5, RBI) hit his first collegiate home run in the ninth with one out, a solo blast to left center field.
   
Vick (5-1) gained the pitching win for Longwood with the first 5.0 innings, scattering nine hits and five earned runs with one walk and six strikeouts.  Freshman Aaron Myers|Newport News (Denbigh) pitched 2.0 innings of scoreless middle relief, yielding only one hit with one walk and two strikeouts.  Senior captain Matt Gwaltney|Chesterfield (Matoaca) earned the save (2) with the final 2.0 innings, allowing three hits and one earned run with one walk and three strikeouts.
   
VMI was led by Berkley Hawkins (2-4, 2 RBI) with two hits and two RBI, while Eric Mayers (2-4, RBI) and Jacob Morley (2-5, RBI) each had two hits as well with an RBI each.  Rob Dickinson (2-5) and Cameron Walter (2-5) each added two hits too, while Campbell Henkel (1-4) took the mound loss with the first 1.0 inning among five Keydets pitching, yielding three hits and four earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts.