FARMVILLE, Va. – Three hits and a game-high six RBI from Norfolk State three-hitter Caleb Ward highlighted a singles-heavy day for the Spartans who pulled away from Longwood late en route to a 10-4 win Tuesday evening at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
Norfolk State (4-10) nickeled and dimed Longwood throughout, tagging 15 hits and scoring in five separate innings. Twelve of those knocks were singles, as all nine Spartan starters had a hit and Ward punctuated the win with a two-out, three-run double that broke the game open in the top of the sixth.
 
Longwood (5-11) trailed just 4-2 through the first five innings, but the Spartans touched up the Lancer bullpen for six runs after freshman starter Gage Williams (0-4) left the game in the top of the fourth with an injury. Ward had the biggest hit of that end-game rally, lacing a two-out, bases-loaded double down the left field line that ballooned the two-run lead to five.
 
That gap proved too much for Longwood to overcome, even with an eighth-inning home run by freshman Hunter Gilliam. Gilliam led Longwood with a pair of RBI, driving in both with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth that was his team-leading third of the season. The local product out of The Fuqua School in Farmville finished 1-for-4 out of the cleanup spot and remains atop Longwood's leaderboard in hits, runs and home runs.
 
However, Norfolk State starter Kevin Alicea (1-3) handled Longwood's lineup in the middle innings, scattering three runs and striking out 13 over his 7.1 innings of work. After the Lancers scored twice in the first inning – on a sacrifice bunt by cleanup hitter Carlos Garrido and a two-out single from Nate Blakeney – Alicea strung together six straight scoreless innings. He retired the side in order in four consecutive innings, during which his offense increased his lead to 8-2 by the bottom of the seventh.
 
Norfolk State shortstop Adam Collins finished 3-for-4, two-hitter Alsander Womack went 2-for-3 with two runs, and cleanup hitter Stephen Baughan launched a two-run homer in the top of the third that gave the Spartans the lead for good.
 
Blakeney extended his team-leading hitting streak to six games for Longwood, while Jawan McAllister also added a hit and a run from the two-spot.
 
The Lancers will now have three days to prepare for the start of Big South play, which they open this Friday through Sunday at Gardner-Webb on March 15-17 in Boiling Springs, N.C.
 
#GoWood