FARMVILLE, Va. – Nick Guimbarda homered and drove in four runs to power Presbyterian to a 10-1 series-clinching win over Longwood in Saturday's rubber match at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
The Blue Hose's No. 3 hitter went 2-for-4 and jump-started Presbyterian's offense early with a three-run homer in the top of the first inning. The longball was his team-leading seventh of the season and sparked a series finale in which he reached base safely in four of his six plate appearances.
Guimbarda opening salvo set the tone for the fourth-place Blue Hose (26-26, 14-10 Big South) to lock up the series behind another offensive eruption. After putting up 13 runs to claim a bounceback win in game two of Friday's doubleheader, Presbyterian's bats stayed hot Saturday and pounded out 10 more hits en route to a second straight double-digit-run game.
Outfielder Andrew Livingston had three of those, while the top five hitters in the Blue Hose lineup combined to pound out the other seven. Jimy Marcelli drove in a pair of runs with an RBI double and a sacrifice fly, while leadoff man Zacchaeus Rasberry continued his tear by scoring three times from the top of the lineup.
Longwood (11-37, 5-19 Big South) was forced to go deep into its bullpen after using seven pitchers in Friday's doubleheader, which they opened with a 6-5 game-one win before falling short in the ninth inning of a 13-11 defeat. Sunday the Lancers turned to freshman Bryan Gonick (0-3) to take the mound but soon after turned to five other relievers, including position players
Hunter Gilliam and
Tyler Mahone.
Gilliam turned in another strong appearance in his newfound role out of the bullpen, holding Presbyterian to one run on one hit over 3.0 innings while striking out a pair. First baseman
Tyler Mahone also took the mound for the first time in his career and fired 2.0 no-hit frames to take the game into the ninth where freshman
Carter Strickland tossed a hitless frame.
However, those arms were no match for Presbyterian starter Jackson Dean, who shut down the Lancers through his 8.0 innings of work. Dean (5-4) scattered six hits and one run while striking out eight batters, lowering his ERA to 3.03 in the process.
Longwood's lone RBI came off the bat of catcher
Drayven Kowalski, who sent in senior
Jawan McAllister from second base with a bloop single in the bottom of the second inning. However, the Lancers managed to push just one runner past second base the rest of the way as Dean retired 10 straight in the middle innings and bailed himself out of a two-on jam in the eighth by rolling an inning-ending double play grounder.
McAllister and his fellow seniors
Eric Crain,
Eli Mercado and
Jon Peterson all received curtain calls in their final home game at Buddy Bolding Stadium. McAllister, Crain and Mercado's all came after on-field substitutions by head coach
Ryan Mau, while Peterson – who threw 2.0 scoreless innings in game two Friday – earned his with a pinch-hit appearance at the end of the game.
Sunday's series finale marks the Lancers' final home game at Buddy Bolding Stadium in 2019. Longwood will close out the regular season next weekend with a three-game series at Campbell on May 16-18 in Buies Creek, N.C.
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