#6 Longwood Eliminates #5 Radford, 17-7
By Longwood Athletics
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – It may have taken a late night, a little help pulling a tarp, and plenty of guts, but Longwood baseball stayed alive at the Big South Tournament on Thursday morning.
After seeing two rain delays suspend the team's elimination game against Radford last night, weather again delayed the start in the morning. But Longwood (30-26) just kept on cruising, shaking off all obstacles to roll past the fifth-seeded Highlanders (25-26) 17-7 to get their first conference tournament win in a decade.
Jackson Nash delivered a career-best outing with six scoreless relief frames, and
Jae'dan Carter led an explosive offense that matched a season-high with five home runs. Carter had a career-best six RBI, but he had plenty of help too.
Ben Pulliam swatted two doubles and a home run as part of a four-hit day, and
Jon Howard and
Tré Keels also had multi-hit days that included homers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Last night, Longwood jumped all over Radford in the first inning with five runs. Carter opened the scoring with an RBI single beforeKeels hit a two-run shot for his seventh homer of the season.
Brogan Jones immediately followed it up with an inside-the-park home run on a ball down the line.
After a rain delay stalled the game, Longwood added three more runs in the top of the second thanks to a two-run double by Carter and a wild pitch two batters later. The inning started last night, but rain delayed it so that Carter's RBI knock came this morning.
Radford erupted for seven runs in the next two frames to erase Longwood's lead, but Nash came on and went to work.
The big righthander quieted down the Radford bats by limiting the rest of the damage in the third and then following it with five straight scoreless frames. Nash (4-2) earned the win while working around eight hits without a walk. His seven strikeouts were two shy of a career high.
Meanwhile, the Lancer offense recalibrated and dominated the late innings. Pulliam blasted a solo home run, his fifth of the season, to dead center in the sixth, and Longwood scored in three of the final four innings to pull away as Nash kept putting up zeros.
Pulliam doubled a run home in the seventh before Carter cranked a three-run home run to make it 14-7. Pulliam added to it with an RBI single in the ninth, and Howard capped the scoring with a towering two-run home run to center.
Matthew Lefevers (5-3) took the loss for Radford. He gave up five runs in the first inning against four hits and a walk with one strikeout.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Howard hit his 14th home run of the season, one shy of tying for third-most in a single season in team history.
- Pulliam now has 22 doubles, which is tied for the second-most in a single season in team history. He is tied with Alex Lewis, who reached the mark in 2016. The team record is 24, set by Phil Cerreto in 2010.
- Longwood reached the 30-win plateau for the first time since 2016.
- Pulliam scored five runs, the most by a player in a game this season.
- Carter's six RBI matched the team's season-high, with both Jon Howard and Jack McMullan reaching the mark as well.
- The five home runs tied a season high for the Lancers. The team also hit five home runs on March 22 against USC Upstate.
- The 17 runs scored tied the season high, set against UMBC on March 21, 2026.
UP NEXT:
Longwood will play again today, with its opponent to be determined. The Lancers will play the lowest seed among the losing teams between No. 1 High Point, No. 2 Winthrop, No. 3 USC Upstate and No. 4 Charleston Southern.