#6 Longwood Eliminates #4 Charleston Southern, 10-4

#6 Longwood Eliminates #4 Charleston Southern, 10-4

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By Longwood Athletics

ASHEVILLE, N.C. –JR Fordham wasn't ready to go home. Neither was the rest of Longwood baseball.
 
The righthanded reliever delivered one of his finest performances as a Lancer (31-26) with a gutsy relief outing against No. 4 Charleston Southern in the Big South Tournament. The offense gave him plenty of support with homers from Tré Keels, Ben Pulliam and Jon Howard to keep Longwood alive in an 11-4 win.
 
But the story of the day was Fordham. He went a full two innings longer than his previous longest outing as a Lancer while striking out a season-best seven as Longwood rallied in the middle innings to win.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
Longwood took the lead in the first inning when Tré Keels swatted a solo home run to start the game. It was his eighth home run of the season.
 
Charleston Southern responded by plating a pair of runs in the second to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Fordham came on in the second inning and limited the damage, and that gave time for the Lancer offense to reset and respond.
 
In the fifth inning, Pulliam clobbered a three-run home run to center field to give Longwood a 4-2 lead. It was his second straight game with a home run and sixth of the year. Howard followed it with another blast to dead center for a 5-2 lead, and it was Howard's 15th homer of the season.
 
Fordham (3-2), meanwhile, continued to set down the Buccaneers. The First-Team All-Big South selection lived up to the billing as he threw 4.2 innings while striking out a season-best seven. He gave up one unearned run while working around five hits and five walks to earn the win.
 
While CSU plated a run on an RBI single by Tyler Wright in the home half of the fifth, Longwood answered a run with multiple runs in the sixth. Max Lawson squeezed home Brogan Jones, who dodged a tag at home plate, and Keels put down another squeeze bunt to score Tyler Bruggeman for a 7-3 lead. Jae'dan Carter capped the scoring with an RBI fielder's choice to put Longwood up five.
 
Bruggeman and Bentley Yeatts drove in runs in the seventh to give Longwood a 10-3 lead.
 
While CSU scored one in the eighth, Wyatt Bunch helped the Lancers cruise the rest of the way to the win.
 
Hayden Henry (2-4) took the loss for Charleston Southern. He gave up six runs, three earned, on five hits in 1.2 innings. He struck out two.
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
  • It was the second straight game that a Lancer reliever set a season-high in both innings and strikeouts. Fordham went 4.2 innings today after Jackson Nash went 6.0 against Radford.
  • Fordham's seven strikeouts were two more than his previous season high of five.
  • Howard is now tied for the third-most home runs in a single season in Lancer baseball history. He tied Kyri Washington, Michael Tucker and Rhett Pfitzner.
  • Howard has now homered in three straight games, the second time this season the Lancer first baseman has done so.
  • Longwood has hit back-to-back homers in back-to-back games after only hitting back-to-back homers one time all season.
  • Longwood's nine home runs in three Big South games are the most in any three-game stretch this season.
  • In addition, the nine home runs are the most for the team in the Big South Tournament.
  • The two tournament wins also match a team high for the Lancers, done in both 2013 and 2016.
UP NEXT:
 
Due to inclement weather throughout the tournament, Longwood's matchup against No. 2 Winthrop will take place at Gardner-Webb at noon on Saturday in Boiling Springs, N.C. Due to the location change, the game will only have live stats. They are available here.