#6 Longwood Reaches Big South Title Game with 7-4 Win over #1 High Point

#6 Longwood Reaches Big South Title Game with 7-4 Win over #1 High Point

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By Longwood Athletics

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Make it four straight wins and a trip to the Big South Championship for the first time ever for Longwood baseball.
 
The sixth-seeded Lancers (33-26) refused to go into the night, although they did have to play deep into it to earn the opportunity. In a fourth straight elimination game, and one that started at 10:10 p.m. in Boiling Springs, N.C., Longwood outlasted top-seeded High Point 7-4.
 
Cal Travers was almost unhittable on the mound in his finest start as a Lancer, and Tyler Bruggeman hammered his first collegiate homer on a clutch eighth-inning swing to give Longwood the right to play third-seeded USC Upstate for the Big South crown on Sunday.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
Once again, Longwood was locked into a pitcher's duel. Travers went toe-to-toe with High Point's (37-20) Wade Walton, who was the Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year, for six innings, and the freshman lefty was sensational for Longwood.
 
Travers (1-2) struck out a career-high eight in six dominant, shutout innings of work that served as his longest outing for Longwood. The lefthander limited a potent High Point side to three this and four walks to earn his first collegiate win.
 
Walton (5-3) struck out eight in seven innings, but he gave up four runs on four hits and four walks to take the loss.
 
The Lancers plated all four in the fifth inning. Walton walked the bases loaded, and Ben Pulliam forced a tight play at first, reaching on a misstep by Walton on the force at the base to give a 1-0 lead to the Lancers. Jon Howard paid it off with a bases-clearing double to right-center for a 4-0 lead.
 
Travers came back out and put two more goose eggs up on the scoreboard before exiting to raucous applause from the Lancer faithful in attendance after the sixth inning.
 
However, High Point got on the board in the seventh to cut the lead to one. Justin Ruiz had a two-run double, and Frank Kelly added an RBI single, but Wyatt Bunch kept Longwood up a run with a big strikeout to end the half.
 
Brogan Jones answered with an RBI double in the eighth, and Tyler Bruggeman hit his first career home run, a two-run shot to the opposite field for a 7-3 lead.
 
While High Point scored one run in the ninth, Jackson Nash closed it out by limiting High Point to that one unearned run in the last two innings.

WHAT THEY SAID:

"At this point, I'm not surprised by anything this team does," said Longwood Head Coach Ray Noe. "They refuse to go home, and more than anything, they BELIEVE. Such an incredible group of individuals, and what they have done this week is nothing short of extraordinary."

"Cal Travers delivered an absolute dynamite performance, and I couldn't be prouder," Noe said. "He pitched with a confidence and swagger while going toe-to-toe with a very explosive High Point lineup. To get his first college win at this stage of the season in these circumstances is what you would see in a movie."

"Our offense was quiet early, but when we needed it the most, guys continued to step up," Noe said. "Howard's bases-clearing double catapulted our offense, and the Jones double and Bruggeman's first career homer in the eighth gave us the separation we needed."

"To be in the championship game for the first time in program history is special," Noe added. "We are looking forward to the challenge, and we will be ready."
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
  • It is Longwood's first trip to the Big South Championship Game in team history.
  • Longwood has won four straight games, all elimination contests.
  • The Lancers have eliminated No. 5 Radford, No. 4 Charleston Southern, No. 2 Winthrop and now No. 1 High Point.
  • Longwood is the only team to have eliminated someone from the tournament.
  • The Lancers have now hit 11 home runs as a team in the tournament.
  • Six different players have hit a home run for Longwood, with four having hit multiple homers.
  • Travers, Joe Castrichini, Bunch and Nash combined to strike out 14 batters while giving up only seven hits and four runs, two earned.
  • The 33 wins for the Lancers are the most since the team won 34 in 2007.
  • Longwood has now beaten High Point three times in four games this season.
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood faces off against USC Upstate on Sunday at 2 p.m. for the Big South Championship. A Longwood win would force one more game 45 minutes after the completion of the first game. All games are slated to air on ESPN+.