FARMVILLE, VA - Longwood plated four runs in the seventh and eighth to even the series with USC Upstate Saturday evening. The Lancers (21-27) used a late spark thanks to a home run and three straight singles to set up a rubber match with the Spartans (31-20) on Sunday.
Tanner Thomas started the rally in the seventh when he blasted his first home run of the season to energize the Lancers offense.
Keondre Shelton,
Ryan Perez, and
Noah Campanelli all singled, and the Lancers took game two 9-7.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Tanner Thomas: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R
Keondre Shelton: 2-3, 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 SB
Noah Campanelli: 1-2, 2 SB, 1 RBI, 1 R
Brenton Fisher: 3.0 IP, 2 SO, 0 ER
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Lancers got on the board first in the first inning when
Hayden Harris flew out to right field.
Noah Campanelli tagged up from second base to go to third, and a throwing error scored him on the same play.
Meanwhile,
Brenton Fisher got the ball for the Lancers and was dominant in his outing. The senior threw three innings where he struck out two and only allowed one hit.
After he exited, the Spartans took the lead in the fifth when they plated four runs on five hits. They then added another in the seventh on a bases loaded walk.
In the bottom half of the seventh the Lancers came to life. On the first pitch of the inning,
Tanner Thomas turned on one, depositing it over the left field wall to ignite the rally. From there, all of the Lancer damage was done with two outs.
Keondre Shelton singled up the middle to add another run for the Lancers.
Ryan Perez and
Noah Campanelli both hit back to back singles up the middle to tie the game at five in the seventh.
Dylan Saale came on in relief on the mound and threw a scoreless eighth to get the Lancer bats back to the plate.
Thomas walked to start the inning, and after
Logan Janney singled, the Lancers had the go-ahead run on third.
WIth the bases loaded, a wild pitch gave Longwood the lead as Thomas and
Juice Tobin, who came in to run for Janney, both scampered home.
Blagen Pado swatted home two more runs with a single, and the Lancers held a 9-5 lead heading into the ninth.
Upstate didn't go quietly and scored two runs, but the Lancers gave the ball to senior
Andrew Potojecki to close the game out.
Dylan Saale (3-0) earned the victory for Longwood in his inning of work, and Trent Hodgon (1-3) took the loss for the Spartans.
WHAT THEY SAID:
"Proud of the fight our guys had today," said Longwood Head Coach
Chad Oxendine. "To get down early, and battle back late shows a lot about us. We have another big one tomorrow. We have to regroup and be ready to go."
NOTABLES:
Tanner Thomas hit his first home run on the season.
Willie Havens has now hit doubles in back to back games.
UP NEXT:
The Lancers now turn to Sunday's deciding game three with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
