UNC Asheville used a six-run seventh inning to comeback and steal a win from Longwood, 7-3, evening the weekend series at 1-1.
Freshman Kevin Warunek (2-0) started on the mound for Longwood, and had a great outing. The southpaw from Gainesville finished with six shutout innings pitched, and only surrendered two hits, one walk and struck out three. Warunek has thrown quality starts in three of his last four appearances.
Longwood scored early in the first inning when Hayden Harris singled to lead off the game, and eventually made it home off of consecutive sacrifice flies from Michael Peterson and Hunter Gilliam.
The Lancers would add to their lead in the bottom half of the sixth after Peterson stole a couple of bases and advanced all the way home after an error by the pitcher. Gregory Ryan would later hit a solo shot for what was his fourth home run in two weeks and add the extra insurance.
The Bulldogs would not go down without a fight. Asheville would get a couple of runs back in the top of the seventh through back-to-back singles through the left side by Michael Groves and PJ Heintz that scored Dylan Bacot and Tylan Reece, respectively from second. Ty Kaufman would then single into right field with the bases loaded, and an error by the right fielder resulted in all the runners coming home. Dominic Freeburger would single home Kaufman to cap off a six-run inning that gave Asheville a three-run lead.
Ryan Douglas started on the mound for Asheville and went 5.1 innings. Douglas gave up three runs on four hits and struck out eight on the afternoon. Justin Honeycutt (1-1) came on in relief of Douglas and halted Longwood’s offense. The sophomore southpaw finished with 3.2 innings of work, and surrendered no runs on three base hits and struck out another five.
The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the top half of the ninth off of a Bacot double that scored Kaufman from first. Dominick D’Ercole (0-1) relieved Warunek and gave up four earned runs on four hits and picked up the loss. Logan Berrier also appeared and gave up three unearned runs on five hits.
“I talked with the guys just about winning the series,” explained coach Chad Oxendine after his team’s winning streak was stopped at six. “We still have a great opportunity to win the series here. Yeah we had a tough inning there with a six spot but we just need to continue to trust the process and believe. Again we have a great opportunity to win a series tomorrow.”
Longwood complete their series tomorrow at 1 p.m. against UNC Asheville with a chance to win the series.
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