Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. – Brant Jones went 5-for-7 with two RBI and two runs scored to help Longwood sweep a non-conference baseball doubleheader from Norfolk State, 5-4 and 8-2 on Wednesday at Bolding Stadium.
The Lancers improved to 19-16 while NSU falls to 12-18-1.
In game one, the Lancers scored four in the second inning and held off a late NSU charge. In game two, Longwood's Lance Harting pitched a complete-game three-hitter with eight strikeouts.
Robbie Bailey and Casey Havers each hit a two-run single in Longwood's four-run second inning in the opener. The Spartans cut their deficit in half thanks to RBI doubles by Chris Joyce (Chesapeake, Va.) and Brandon Hairston (North Garden, Va.) in the top of the third.
The Lancers scored a key run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Jones' sacrifice fly. The run came after an infield single and a pair of walks by NSU reliever Jordan Egan (Virginia Beach, Va.) loaded the bases.
NSU drew even closer as Joyce hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh. But Lancer reliever Mark Montgomery pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and stranded a pair of Spartans in the top of the ninth to earn the save.
Joyce paced NSU with a 3-for-5, three-RBI performance in the opener. Joyce's three RBI match season high. Chris Warren (Virginia Beach, Va.) added a pair of hits.
Jason Barker (Chesapeake, Va.) took the loss to fall to 3-3 on the year. He gave up eight hits and four runs in five innings. Chris Briere (5-4) got the win with seven solid innings for Longwood. He fanned seven.
In game two, Hairston launched his team-leading seventh homer of the year, a solo shot to right field, for a 1-0 NSU lead in the top of the second. The Lancers tied it in the bottom of the second, but NSU pulled ahead in the third on a run-scoring single by John Rasberry (Suffolk, Va.).
But Harting held NSU hitless over the final four innings, and the Lancers' offense came to life. Jones and David Smiy had RBI singles in the third to give Longwood a 3-2 edge. Scott Kimble's sacrifice fly in the fourth made it 4-2, and Robby Newman broke the game open with a three-run homer in the fifth.
Smiy had a pair of hits in each game for Longwood.
Ryan Davis (Gilbert, Ariz.) took the loss for the Spartans in the nightcap. He yielded four hits and three runs, two earned, in two innings of work to fall to 1-4 on the year.
Hairston, Rasberry and Ryan Wiggins (Gloucester, Va.) had NSU's only hits in the second game.
The Spartans are back in action this Saturday and Sunday in a three-game MEAC series at Delaware State.
