In a three game series against the Cornell Big Red, the Longwood Lancers were swept 3-0. According to the Lancers Athletics website, the Lancers were out-hit in the series 30-17. Baseball Head Coach Charles "Buddy" Bolding attributes the offensive struggles mostly to how young the lineup is at the moment.
The coach, now in his 34th season with Longwood, has always had a policy of not starting any more than four freshmen. During the series with Cornell, the Lancers started four freshmen and played a total of six in the series. "Freshmen are going to lose more ball-games for you than they win, that is the bottom line," said Bolding. The Lancers dropped game one on Thursday by a final score of 5-1. Longwood never really got the bats going until it was too late. The Big Red came out swinging and got on the board first in the third inning when senior infielder Marshall Yanzick drove in one run on an RBI single to center.
Cornell jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Longwood answered when outfielder Robby Newman drove in a run on an RBI double to make it 4-1. The Big Red then tacked-on an insurance run to close out the Lancers. Longwood finished with just five hits in the game, while Cornell bashed the Lancers with 15.
"It was kind of like holding a joker card in your pocket; you can only use it once." - Head Coach Charles "Buddy" Bolding
Friday saw the Lancers get swept in a doubleheader. Game one of the doubleheader was a close call as the Lancers fell 4-3. Senior Pitcher Matt Gwaltney (0-2) pitched a complete-game loss for the Lancers and surrendered three earned runs off of nine hits.
The Lancers led Cornell 3-2 after eight and a half innings thanks to a gutsy call by Bolding in the sixth inning. The head coach called for sophomore catcher Scott Burkett to pinch hit for freshman center fielder Brandon Delk. Burkett did not start the game due to a groin injury. Burkett delivered on the call by belting a single up the middle that scored two runs to put the Lancers on top. According to Bolding, the call was something he had in mind for the game. "It was kind of like holding a joker card in your pocket; you can only use it once," he said. Burkett has been out of the lineup for two weeks. "Losing him forced me to put a freshman behind the plate, which is always a disaster," said Bolding. Freshman Joey Varaksa started in place of the injured Burkett.
Cornell was able to grab the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning when Varaksa was slow to get the ball back to Gwaltney. Bolding said, "We had an opportunity to drive in a safety run that we did not do."
In game two of the doubleheader, the Lancers lost 3-1 as the bats fell even more silent. Longwood never led as Cornell scored the first three runs of the game. The Big Red got on the board first thanks to an in-the-park home-run by Chris Cruz.
The Big Red added two more runs in the fourth inning when their bats came alive. Cruz once again provided a spark by hammering an RBI triple to left center field that scored senior outfielder Brian Billigen. Later in the inning, freshman Kevin Tatum pelted an RBI single to left field that easily scored Cruz from third. The Lancers got on the board in the fifth inning when freshman Brandon Delk launched a solo homerun to left field.
The solo shot was Delk's first home-run as a Longwood Lancer. Junior Justin Lacy had his consecutive hits streak come to an end as he failed in each of his three at-bats. Lacy had entered the game with a hit in each of the previous 15 games.
Junior Kyler Morgan (2-3) got the ball in the night capper of the doubleheader. Morgan picked up his third loss of the season in seven innings. The right-handed pitcher gave up all three runs on six hits with five strikeouts. The series finale scheduled for Sunday afternoon was cancelled due to rain. The series sweep drops the Lancers record to 11-12 after a 9-3 start.
Freshman Brandon Delk runs around the diamond to attempt another run for the Lancers.
