Cam Locklear laced a bases-clearing double into right field with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Liberty rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat Longwood 9-6 on Friday evening in the series opener at Liberty Baseball Stadium.
Locklear connected on a 1-1 pitch from Michael Catlin and his double scored Tre Todd (2 for 4), Brady Heid and Jonathan Embry to give the Flames (25-15, 13-6 Big South) their second lead of the game.
The Lancers (13-27, 6-13) scored five times on six hits in the fifth inning against LU starter Garret Price to take a 6-2 lead.
Embry’s ground-rule double in the fifth scored Logan Mathieu, and Todd and Mathieu delivered RBI singles in the sixth inning to tie the game.
Jackson Bertsch (4-2) did not allow a hit and struck out four in three scoreless innings to pick up the victory.
SOFTBALL
Lynchburg wins twice to open ODAC tournament
In Salem, Conner English scattered three hits and struck out six in a complete-game performance, and third-seeded Lynchburg defeated second-seeded Randolph-Macon 3-0 in the winner’s bracket of the ODAC tournament at the Moyer Complex.
Taylor Mabry gave LC (30-10) a 4-0 lead with a three-run home run in the fifth inning.
R-MC (38-4) had three runners advance to second, but English stranded all of them for her second shutout of the day.
English threw a one-hit shutout in the Hornets’ 8-0 victory over Eastern Mennonite to open the tournament. She stuck out seven and walked one.
Sarah Commons went 2 for 2 with four RBIs, including a bases-clearing triple in the second inning, and Brittany Coffey drove in three runs on a bases-clearing single to cap LC’s five-run first inning.
Randolph eliminated
Danielle Brenneman’s bunt single scored Beck Hoskins from third and lifted EMU to a 3-2, eight-inning victory over Randolph in an elimination game at the ODAC tournament in Salem.
The WildCats (14-23) forced extra innings with a seventh-inning rally. Brittany Campbell hit a single to center that scored Kate Hodgkiss for the tying run.
RC opened the tournament with a 3-0 loss to second-seeded Randolph-Macon. Kayley Scott threw a five-hit shutout, and RC’s Dianne Davis went 2 for 3.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Randolph-Macon 6, Lynchburg 3
In Ashland, Christina Harris, Lilli Altenburg and Reagan Coon each posted singles victories, but the Hornets (12-6, 8-3 ODAC) fell to the Yellow Jackets (10-3, 8-1) at Banks Tennis Center.