The Presbyterian Blue Hose beat the Longwood Lancers 12-5 to clinch the series on Friday.
“It’s pretty tough when you go down four nothing to a team as good as Presbyterian,” said head baseball coach Chad Oxendine following his side’s defeat. ” As I said yesterday, that’s a really good baseball club. The offense came back late in the game but when you give up as many free bases as we did tonight the outcome will be what it is.”
Dalton Reeves led the game offensively with five RBI on one hit and two runs. Reeves’ big day also included a first inning grand slam.
The Blue Hose scored first for the second consecutive game. Jay Wetherington started the game off with a first pitch single and after two straight walks for Presbyterian, Dalton Reeves hit a grand slam off the left foul pole.
Longwood got one back in the bottom of the second after Jack Schnell singled to right center, and advanced around the bases from a ground out and two balks.
Presbyterian added one in the third and two in the fifth to extend their lead. Eric Toth singled then stole second and advanced to third after a throwing error by the catcher on the steal. Reeves followed up with a sacrifice fly to left for the lone run in the third. In the fifth Jeremiah Boyd had a softly hit single into right that scored Wetherington and Brody Fahr followed up with a single that saw Reeves cross home.
The Lancers responded with one run in the fifth after Gregory Ryan doubled and Hayden Harris hit him home with a run of his own.
Presbyterian added to their lead in the top of the seventh. Boyd opened the inning up with a double and Fahr walked, Kyle Decker then had a softly hit single to right center that brought both home.
Longwood got three back in the seventh inning after a groundout, wild pitch and Dylan Wilkinson double scored Michael Peterson, Hunter Gilliam and Michael Dolberry. The Lancers had runners on second and third but couldn’t bring anyone else home.
Presbyterian ended the scoring for the day after putting up three more in the top of the eighth. Hits from Toth, Fahr, Dragoo and Lebron highlighted the eighth inning hit parade to give the Blue Hose a seven-run lead.
Duncan Howard (5-2) started the game for the Blue Hose and pitched 5.1 innings. Howard picked up his fifth win behind five strikeouts while he surrendered two runs on five hits. Luke Matthews and Logan Ymker came on in relief and finished out the game for Presbyterian to secure the win.
“They showed heart,” further commented Oxendine on his team’s effort late in the game. “We talked about it at the end, we have to keep grinding. Our backs are against the wall it doesn’t matter where you’re at in the standings you can’t get swept at home. We have Melnyk on the mound who’s one of the more experienced guys on this staff and we need him to have a good game out ther.”
Kevin Warunek (3-1) started on the mound for Longwood and gave up four runs on two hits and two walks and picked up his first loss of the season. The Lancers used five pitchers in relief the rest of the way and the five gave up five earned runs on thirteen hits and four walks.
The series finale between Longwood and Presbyterian is tomorrow at 2 p.m.
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