LYNCHBURG, Va. – A five-RBI day from senior Trey McDyre and an early onslaught from the Liberty lineup powered the Flames to a 16-6 midweek win over visiting Longwood Tuesday evening at Liberty Baseball Stadium.
All five of McDyre's RBI came in the first three innings to spark the Flames (4-4) to their fourth win in five home games this season. After that opening salvo, Longwood sophomore
Michael Peterson embarked on a career effort at the plate and Longwood's bullpen stepped up to hold Liberty to two runs over the final five frames, but the early 14-run deficit proved too much to overcome.
McDyre finished 4-for-6 with three RBI doubles and crossed the plate four times himself. Liberty leadoff man Gray Betts and two-hitter Ben Highfill joined him with multiple hits and runs each, setting up starter Mason Hand (2-0) for a five-inning win in which he held Longwood to one run on four hits.
Liberty's opening rally forced the Lancers (2-7) to go to their bullpen early in relief of starter
Andrew Melnyk (0-1), and the quartet of
Josh Longabaugh,
Maceo Campbell,
Zane Eggleston and
Dillon Champagne all made the most of that opportunity by combining for 5.2 innings of two-run ball the rest of the way.
However, the Flames scored all the runs they would need beforehand in a six-run first, a three-run second and a five-run third. McDyre tagged RBI doubles in each of those innings as Liberty chased Melnyk in the second and his relief
Dominick D'Ercole one inning later.
Longabaugh took over for D'Ercole with one out in the second, stranded two runners and and twirled 2.1 innings before handing the ball to Campbell, who scattered one hit and a run over the next 1.1 frames. Eggleston and Champagne closed out the game with matching scoreless frames, with Champagne firing a perfect eighth to keep his season ERA at 0.00 through his first 3.2 innings as a Lancer.
Longwood's offense awakened after those first three innings as well, getting on the board on Andrew Gorman's two-out RBI double in the fourth and putting up five more runs the rest of the way. Peterson took over from the nine-hole with an RBI double in the seventh and a follow-up RBI single in the eighth en route to a 3-for-4 performance that raised his season batting average to .539.
Sophomore first baseman
Hunter Gilliam, freshman catcher
Justin Looney and senior infielder
Antwaun Tucker also drove in runs, while junior shortstop
Ricky Jimenez tagged a pair of hits.
The Lancers will now have three days to prepare for their third straight home weekend series, which brings Binghamton to Buddy Bolding Stadium for a three-game set beginning Friday at 3 p.m. The series opener will air on ESPN+ as Longwood's first home spring sports broadcast of 2020.
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