Longwood University split a home baseball doubleheader against visiting Le Moyne College Saturday at Charles Buddy Bolding Stadium in Farmville. The Lancers (16-6) won game one against the Dolphins (4-13) by a score of 4-3 before falling in game two by a score of 6-2 as their recent winning streak was stopped at 14 straight.
Senior captain Brant Jones|Richmond (Monacan) led the way in the opener with two hits and two RBI, and fellow classmate and team captain Chris Briere|Midlothian (James River) earned the pitching win with 7.0 strong innings, while junior captain Mark Montgomery|Williamsburg (Bruton) earned his seventh save this season and school-record 13th save of his career.
In the opener, Longwood allowed a run in the second when Le Moyne’s Pat Wiese (2-4, rbi) contributed an RBI single. The Lancers tied it at 1-1 with a run in the third as Jones (2-4, 2 rbi) led-off with a single and later scored on a fielder’s choice RBI off the bat of junior Robby Newman|Virginia Beach (Salem) (0-2, rbi). Longwood scored two runs in the fourth when Jones hit a two-run double to right-center field, and the Lancers made it 4-1 with another run in the sixth as freshman Scott Burkett|Williamsburg (Jamestown) (1-2) walked to open the at-bat and later crossed the plate unearned via a passed ball. The Dolphins made it interesting with two runs in the eighth on an RBI double from Zack Wiley (1-4, rbi), and a fielder’s choice RBI from Kody O’Connor (1-4, rbi), before Montgomery entered and shut-down the rally. Junior Michael Sims|Stafford (North Stafford) (2-2) also had two hits in the first game for the hosts.
Briere (4-1) started for Longwood and earned the pitching win with the first 7.0 strong innings, scattering seven hits and one run, unearned, with three strikeouts and two walks. Montgomery tossed the final 1.1 scoreless innings on the mound for the Lancers, allowing no hits with two strikeouts and one walk. It was his seventh save in 11 appearances this season as he has yet to allow a run in 13.1 innings with 20 strikeouts, while earning the new school record for career saves (13) as well.
In the nightcap, Longwood led 2-0 through four innings as the Lancers scored single runs in both the second and third innings. In the second, Sims (1-3, rbi) provided an RBI single, while in the third, sophomore Justin Lacy|Glen Allen (J.R. Tucker) (1-2, rbi) added a run-scoring sacrifice fly. Le Moyne, however, rallied with four runs in the fifth inning as Wiese (1-3, 2 rbi) had another RBI single, Brian Stinson (1-3, rbi) was hit-by-a-pitch with the bases-loaded, O’Connor (0-2, rbi) walked with the bases-loaded, and Brett Botsford (1-4) scored unearned via a passed ball. The Dolphins secured their road win with a run in both the sixth and seventh innings as well as Wiese added another RBI on a sacrifice, and Don Schaaf (2-3, rbi) had a run-scoring single.
Junior Matt Gwaltney|Chesterfield (Matoaca) (3-2) took the Longwood pitching loss with the first 5.0 innings on the mound, yielding five hits and four runs, three earned, with three strikeouts and one walk. Senior Troy Dickman|Manakin Sabot (Midlothian) pitched the final 2.0 innings, allowing four hits and two runs, both earned, with two strikeouts and one walk as well.
Derek Zielinski (1-1) earned the complete game win for Le Moyne, throwing 7.0 innings and limiting Longwood to only five hits and two runs, both earned, with 10 strikeouts and one walk. Zielinski struck-out the side in the seventh.
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