CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – No. 25 Virginia rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and took control of what was a tied game at the time to knock off Longwood, 9-4, Wednesday evening at Davenport Field.
Cameron Simmons hit the go-ahead RBI double for the Cavaliers on a ball sharply hit through the left side in the fourth to give the lead back to the defending national champions. UVA (21-14, 7-8 ACC) scored five runs on five hits and three errors in the big fourth inning to best Longwood (19-15, 7-5 Big South). UVA sent 11 batters to the plate in the half inning.
"We made some big errors and when you string multiple errors together in an inning against a team like that they're going to take advantage," Longwood head coach
Ryan Mau said after the Lancers fell at UVA. "That was too much for us to overcome."
The Lancers battled after trailing 1-0 early. Longwood tied the game at one on an RBI single by
Connar Bastaich in the top of the third inning to plate
Sammy Miller, who finished the game 3-for-3 with an RBI triple, a double, two walks, and a pair of runs scored.
"[Miller] put in some work to get himself back on track and it was good to see him have the day he had today," Mau said after Miller picked up his first multi-hit game of the month. "We were rooting for that home run for the cycle and he put on quality at-bats all day long."
Miller picked up the first three legs of the cycle in order in his first three at-bats and threatened for the first cycle by a Lancer since Travis Pfitzner, who hit for the cycle once in 2000 and once again in 2001. Miller fell a home run shy of the cycle, but reached base five times in the loss, the most times a Lancer has reached safely in a game this season.
Bastaich also finished with a strong day at the plate and was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
"[Bastaich] stepped up for us again and did a good job in the three-hole," Mau said. "I moved him up in the lineup because I like the way he's been swinging the bat the last couple of weeks."
Bastaich hit in the three-spot for Longwood for the first time in 2016 after spending the bulk of the season hitting behind
Alex Lewis in the five-hole. Bastaich sits second behind Lewis with 20 RBI on the season, 16 of which have come with two outs, most on the team.
Tyler Shambora (3-0) received the win for UVA after pitching 2.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Devin Gould (1-1) suffered the loss for the Lancers after allowing five runs, four earned, in 3.1 innings of work.
Out of the bullpen for Longwood
Cody Boydstun and
Tyler Wirsu combined for 2.2 scoreless innings.
"I thought
Cody Boydstun did a good job tonight out of the bullpen for us," Mau said. "I thought he threw the ball well, which was good to see."
The three hits for Miller were tied for a game high with Matt Thaiss for UVA, who was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Ernie Clement added a pair of hits and was 2-for-3 with three runs scored for the Cavaliers.
In the ninth inning Longwood brought the potential tying run to the on-deck circle after scoring a run on a bases-loaded single by Bastaich.
With the loss the Lancers drop to 6-4 against teams from the state of Virginia and dropped the first two of three games on the schedule against ACC teams.
Longwood looks to bounce back with a weekend set at home against Savannah State for the first meeting of the two programs. Game one Friday will be on 92.9 Farmville WVHL Kickin' Country and the second two games of the series will be on the Big South Network. First pitch Friday is set for 6 p.m. at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
#GoWood
