FARMVILLE, Va. – Gregory Ryan was on fire, and Longwood baseball earned its first win of the season on Friday afternoon. The Lancer shortstop went 4-4 at the plate with two doubles and a home run, and Longwood (1-5) took down Delaware State 8-4.
SCORE
R H E
DSU 4 6 0
LWU 8 11 0
TOP PERFORMERS:
Gregory Ryan: 4-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B, HR
Andrew Melnyk: 2.0 IP, 6 K, 0 H, SV
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Lancers brought the big bats early and staked themselves to a 4-0 lead through three innings thanks to a trio of home runs.
James Nelson opened the scoring with a two-run blast in the first to right-center in the first inning.
Dylan Wilkinson crushed a solo homer to right field in the second inning, and Ryan powered a solo shot of his own to dead center in the third inning for a four-run lead.
Logan Berrier and the Lancer defense, meanwhile, combined to keep Delaware State (0-4) off the board. Berrier struck out four through six scoreless frames, and the Lancer defense turned a pair of double plays on the reigning MEAC regular season champs.
However, Berrier exited in the seventh with runners on base, and the Hornets responded with a grand slam from Alec Rodriguez that knotted the score at four.
Longwood responded with a little two-out rally to retake the lead in the home half of the inning.
Drayven Kowalski roped a triple to deep left-center, and
Michael Dolberry punched him home with a double down the line for the 5-4 advantage.
Ryan doubled home
Eliot Dix in the eighth to start another rally for the Lancers, and Longwood plated a trio of insurance runs.
Andrew Melnyk closed it out by striking out six straight, with five of the six going down looking. He earned the save after coming on to pitch the eighth, his first of the season.
Brenton Fisher (1-1) earned the win for the Lancers after coming on in relief of
Michael Tolson in the seventh.
Evan Bouldin (0-1) took the loss for Delaware State. He gave up one run on two hits in 1.2 innings of relief work.
WHAT THEY SAID:
"I'm proud of our guys for continuing to fight," said Head Coach
Chad Oxendine. "We put some good swings on the baseball tonight. Everything matters! We have to continue to believe in that."
"Greg had a huge day for us," Oxendine said about his senior shortstop. "He's that type of player. We need him to continue to lead this offense."
"Logan and Melly [
Andrew Melnyk] threw the ball well," Oxendine added. "It was great to see them both have great nights in their new roles. Brenton also bounced back tonight and stopped Delaware State's momentum, which was important."
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
The Lancers have had five different players hit a homer this season.
Ryan and Nelson both are tied for the team lead with two home runs apiece.
Longwood has hit a home run in four of the team's six games.
Melnyk struck out six batters for a second straight outing. He K's six in his first appearance this season.
Logan Berrier gave Longwood a quality start. He pitched into the seventh and only surrendered two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out four.
Wilkinson and Dolberry joined Ryan as Lancers with multi-hit days.
Longwood had 11 hits as a team and outhit Delaware State 11-6.
UP NEXT:
Game two of the series is set for Saturday afternoon. First pitch is at 2 p.m. at Buddy Bolding Stadium
#GoWood
