Last week proved to be a great week for us as we went 4-0 with a dramatic walk-off on Tuesday and a sweep over the weekend.

The Longwood Lancers came to Davenport Field on Tuesday for an in-state midweek game. We were told they were off to their best start in school history, and they certainly played like it.

The Lancers jumped out to a 3-0 lead. We clawed our way back, scoring one in the sixth on a Sean Doolittle solo homer. In the eighth, David Adams scored on an errant pick off throw to tie­ the game at 3.

As previously mentioned, these tight midweek games are great for us because they keep us sharp for our ACC series on the weekend. In the top of the ninth, Casey Lambert came in to a bases loaded, one-out jam and continued his dominance, striking out the next two hitters with a steady diet of sharp breaking balls.

In the bottom half, Tyler Cannon drew a leadoff walk and was bunted over to second. Pinch-hitter John Scaglione crushed a ball to center that was knocked down by the wind for the second out. This brought Brandon Marsh to the plate, who in the past two years has four or five game winning hits. Marsh delivered and sent a line drive down the right-field line to give us the 4-3 win. It was a great way to rebound from Sunday’s home loss to Miami and gave us some momentum heading into a key series at Virginia Tech.

After classes on Thursday, we got on the bus for the short ride down to Blacksburg. We checked into the hotel and then went over to English Field for our typical pre-series workout.

On Friday, we sent Jacob Thompson to the mound, and he was impressive once again as he continued his dominance of ACC hitters. His ability to command his fastball and throw his power breaking ball in any count has made him nearly unhittable. Friday’s game turned out just like you draw it out on paper – Thompson going seven with Michael Schwimer pitching the eighth and handing the ball to Lambert for the ninth. Offensively, Tim Henry delivered a big two-run double that gave us a 3-1 win.

On Saturday, we came out with a little more intensity. Brandon Marsh led the offense with four hits as we scored several runs with two outs. Brandon Guyer also hit his third homer of the year in the eighth. On the mound, Andrew Carraway was brilliant out of the pen, as he has been all year, serving in a long-relief role. He went five scoreless innings in earning his fourth win of the year.

With the series win under our belts, we were looking for nothing less than a sweep heading into Sunday.

With the reigning ACC player of the year pitching on Sunday, we felt very confident about our chances to win knowing Doolittle is going to give us a chance to win every time out. With a strong 6.2 inning performance, Doc did just that. Tim Henry continued his solid weekend with two more hits as we completed the sweep.

After the game we attended an annual barbecue with Virginia Tech and then made the trip home.

A workout is scheduled for Monday with an away game on Tuesday at VMI. With four ACC weekends in the books we are looking for another solid series against Duke this weekend.

Go Hoos!

Jeremy Farrell

(photo courtesy of Virginia Media Relations Office)