DURHAM, N.C. – Myles Coston's grand slam gave NC Central (16-19) an early lead that stuck on Tuesday night. Twice Longwood (9-27) rallied to trim the lead to two, but NC Central hung on to beat the Lancers 9-6.
Both sides had left runners stranded in the first two before Coston's big swing changed the complexion of the game. NC Central knocked one run in before loading the bags with one out, and Coston squeezed his first homer of 2019 over the right field wall for a 5-0 lead.
"We missed some opportunities," said Longwood head coach
Ryan Mau. "We had the bases loaded early on and first and second later with no outs and failed to capitalize, and that hurt us."
After leaving five runners on base through the first three innings, the Lancers broke through in the fourth.
Nathan Iskowitz whacked an RBI double to put the Lancers on the board, and
Jacob Mitchell doubled to put runners at second and third.
Jawan McAllister laid down a sacrifice bunt for a safety squeeze, and Mitchell trucked home from second on the play to cut the lead to 5-3.
NC Central had pushed the lead back to five with a three-run sixth, but Longwood trimmed the lead once again in the seventh and eighth innings.
Cullan Wadsworth scored from third on an error after
Jack Schnell stole second in the seventh inning, and Mitchell tattooed a two-run home run over the wall in the eighth. The junior now leads Longwood with five homers this season.
"It was good to see Mitchell get the bat going again," said Mau. "He demolished the ball to left on the home run."
NC Central's Andrew King (1-0) earned the win after coming on in relief to start the fifth inning and throwing two scoreless innings. Ryan Decker (4) picked up the save after entering with the tying run at bat in the top of the eighth inning. He completed the four-out save.
Mike Esposito (0-1) took the loss for Longwood in his second career start. He struck out a career-high seven while working 4.2 innings and giving up five runs, all earned in the third inning, on six hits and four walks.
"I though Mike challenged hitters with his fastball, but unfortunately wasn't able to find command with his offspeed until it was too late," said Mau.
Hunter Gilliam threw well for the Lancers in his longest relief outing. The freshman went 2.1 innings to close the game and struck out a career high four while only giving up one run.
"Hunter did an outstanding job and has become a guy we will go to more often," said Mau.
"This has been a long stretch, and we have a short turnaround before a huge conference series at Radford," said Mau.
Longwood has four games remaining on its nine-game road trip and heads to Radford on Thursday for a three-game series with the Highlanders from Thursday through Saturday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday night.
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