RADFORD, Va. – Longwood baseball suffered a tight 4-3 loss at Radford to open a three-game series on Friday afternoon.
Radford (11-11, 1-3 Big South) plated four runs in the middle innings to erase an early three-run Lancer (17-9, 3-4 Big South) lead.
Brogan Jones led the Lancers in hits with three, and Jae'dan Carter added two base hits as well, but Radford's bullpen limited Longwood to two hits in the final five innings.
R H E
LWU 3 9 1
RAD 4 8 1
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Longwood kicked things off with a Jones double, and an RBI single from Jon Howard gave the team a 1-0 lead.
Max Lawson followed up in the second with an RBI on a squeeze play that put the Lancers up 2-0.
In the third, Lucas Johnson drove home a run with an RBI sac fly to put Longwood up 3-0.
Meanwhile, Jaxon Lloyd was cruising on the mound. He retired 12 straight batters for Longwood.
Unfortunately, Radford used back-to-back bunts to get runners on base in the fifth, and two RBI sac flies cut the lead 3-2.
The Highlanders took the lead in the seventh after an RBI double and another sacrifice bunt gave them a 4-3 lead.
Joshua Milleville (1-0) earned the win after pitching three innings with no runs and one hit.
Trey Ludy (2) picked up the save after pitching two innings with only one walk and one hit.
Lloyd (4-1) took the tough-luck loss after pitching 6.1 innings with no walks, three strikeouts, and four runs.
WHAT THEY SAID:
"Today was a game of momentum", said Head Coach Ray Noe. "We had all of it through the first 3 innings, and credit to them they made a big pitch to get a double play in the 4th and took it back with some aggressive baserunning and bunts in the 5th. We had guys in the right position to make a play there late and we simply didn't get it done. Definitely disappointing to waste another quality start from Jaxon Lloyd but we will get back to work tonight and have a great plan for tomorrow."
UP NEXT:
The Lancers continue with game two of the three-game series against Radford tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled at 4 p.m. This game will be aired on ESPN+.
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