FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood needed one last clutch hit in a slugfest against Presbyterian on Saturday at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
Brogan Jones delivered.
 
The Longwood (22-17, 7-7 Big South) junior smacked a walk-off RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to deliver an 11-10 win over the Blue Hose (9-31, 5-9 Big South) that also evened the series at one apiece.
 
That capped a wild back and forth game that featured 21 combined runs on 26 base hits.

The series finale will now start on Sunday at 2 p.m. instead of 1 p.m. due to expected inclement weather in the morning.
 
SCORING:
               R             H            E
PC          10           14           1
LWU      11           11           3
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
Longwood's bats banged out six runs over the first two innings for an early lead.
 
Tre Keels roped an RBI double to left center, and Ben Pulliam hit a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. Jae'dan Carter capped the scoring in the first with an RBI double.
 
Bentley Yeatts singled in a run to give Longwood in the second, and then Howard clobbered his two-run home run for a 6-0 lead.
 
The Blue Hose plated five runs combined from the third through the fifth, but Longwood had answers. Lucas Johnson singled in a run in the fourth, and Keels both singled in a run and snuck home on a throwing error while he stole third.
 
However, Presbyterian rebounded with five runs in the seventh to take a 10-9 lead. Nick Smith swatted a two-run homer to start the scoring, and James Green poked home a run to give PC the lead.
 
Longwood tied it back up in the eighth by loading the bases with one out. Jack McMullan hit a sac fly to center to knot the score at 10.
 
That set the stage for the bottom of the ninth. After Longwood relievers Cal Travers and Joe Gomez helped wiggled out of a two-on, one-out jam, Howard drew a one-out walk in the ninth. Pinch runner Tyler Bruggeman stole second, and with two outs, Jones cranked his single to right to score Bruggeman from second and win the game.
 
Gomez (1-0) got his first win of the season after recording the final out of the top the ninth, a strikeout.
 
Mikey Marroquin (0-3) took the loss after giving up one run in 1.1 innings of work.

WHAT THEY SAID:

"What a game," said Longwood Head Coach Ray Noe. "We needed that one. Presbyterian is such a well-coached group, and they grind out at bats. Today they scored nine runs with two outs, which is almost impossible to do. But give our guys credit for never giving up and stringing together some great at bats there late in the eighth and ninth to get the right guy up to take it home for us. Huge stolen base by Bruggeman there in the ninth too. Everyone knew he was going, but his athleticism allowed him to get a great jump and make an incredible slide to avoid the tag."

"The pitching staff got hit aroudn a little bit, but the best thing about the group is their fireman mentality of owning those 'tough' situations'," Noe added. "Travers and Gomez were the perfect example of that today, and Fordham and Bunch have done it all year. Excited to go win a series tomorrow at home."
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• The two teams have both won a one-run game over the first two games of the series.
• Four players had multiple hits for the Lancers.
• The walkoff hit by Jones was his only hit of the day.
• Howard drew three walks in the game.
• Longwood drew nine walks as a team.
• Eight players had an RBI for the Lancers.
• The Lancers stole six bases.

 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
Longwood plays the third and final game of the series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2 p.m., and it is scheduled to air on ESPN+.
 
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