FARMVILLE, Va. – VMI reliever Mason Adamson polished off a stingy effort from the Keydet bullpen with a two-inning save that closed out a tight 6-4 win over Longwood Wednesday evening at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
Adamson was the fifth pitcher VMI (12-13) rolled out on a designated staff day and fired two no-hit frames en route to his team-high fourth save of the season. The freshman right-hander entered the game in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run lead and sat down six of the eight Lancers he faced – striking out four – to clinch VMI's third win in the past four games.
 
Adamson's two shutout innings followed a scoreless inning of work from Derek Tremblay and a combined 3.2 frames of middle relief from Liam Roden and John Fuqua. Those four relievers combined for 6.2 innings of two-run ball out of the bullpen to hold off a Longwood (10-16) team that banged out nine hits and put 14 men on base, but stranded nine of those. Freshman starter Jonathan Clines (1-0) picked up the win for VMI, scattering two hits and two runs over 2.1 innings.
 
"We got off to a poor start on the mound and that was the difference today," Longwood head coach Ryan Mau said. "We gave away early runs and had to play from behind the rest of the way."
 
Zach Potojecki (2-3) was hit with the loss after allowing three runs in 1.0 inning of work, facing one man in the second inning of the start for the Lancers on what was also a designated "bullpen day" for Longwood, with everyone working on a pitch count. Potojecki allowed three runs, all off of three walks and two hits in the first inning.
 
The Lancer bullpen combined to toss 8.0 innings of three-run ball, keeping Longwood within striking distance throughout the game.
 
"I thought our bullpen did a really good job of giving us a chance," Mau said. "Unfortunately we didn't have enough fire power offensively to come back."
 
The five bullpen arms for Longwood – Tyler Wirsu, Steven Farkas, Jon Peterson, Cody Boydstun, and Eric Harp – combined for nine strikeouts against three walks. Farkas struck out three batters in 2.0 innings of work. Farkas, Boydstun, and Harp each put together scoreless outings and Harp retired all five batters faced with one strikeout.

VMI corner infielders Collin Fleischer and Jake Huggins led the way for VMI by driving in four of the Keydets' six runs, plating all four of those in the first three innings to stake a 5-0 lead. Longwood countered in the bottom half of the third with an RBI triple by freshman Antwaun Tucker – his Big South-leading fifth of the season – but Roden stepped in to hold Longwood to just one more run in the frame.
 
Tucker, batting atop the lineup for the third straight game while junior Sammy Miller is sidelined after being hit by a pitch this past Saturday, logged his second straight multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-5 with two runs and the triple. First baseman Justin Mitchell also launched a solo home run as part of a 2-for-3 night, and third baseman Alex Lewis added two hits, including an RBI single.
 
"This upcoming bye weekend is timed up well for us," Mau said. "We need to get healthy, recharge, and get focused."

The midweek loss precedes an off-weekend for Longwood, which gets six days to prep for a rematch against VMI in Lexington, Va., on Tuesday, April 4, at 6 p.m. That will be the Lancers' lone midweek contest before heading to Gardner-Webb in search of their second Big South series win.
 
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