BUENA VISTA, Va. – In the second game against Ferrum College (2-6) this season, the Southern Virginia University Baseball team (3-5) got revenge, taking down the Panthers on Wednesday afternoon, 5-2.
After hitting the first batter with his opening pitch,
Colby Hoffman forced a double play and a ground out to get out of the inning.
Hoffman began the next inning with back-to-back groundouts, and following a walk, he struck out Kristian Barcroft.
In their portion of the second inning, the Knights tallied four runs to take control of the contest.
Marcelino Leonardo Jr. and
Jackson Massey got on base after being hit by pitches and would advance on a balk, getting them in scoring positions. The two would reach home plate following a double by
Benjamin Horsley. Next,
Sinjun Johnson was walked to get runners back on first and second.
Stockton Hall then advanced the two runners with a sacrifice bunt. Finally, a
Will Parker single brought in two more runs to increase the lead to four.
Seth Lloyd then came in to pitch for Southern Virginia. After striking out his first batter faced, he forced a fly out and ground out for a three-up, three-down inning.
The Panthers, however, would cut into the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Grayson Chitwood led off with a double and would advance to third following a sacrifice bunt by Clayton Michael. Then, a sacrifice fly by Nick Funk brought Chitwood home, making the score 4-1.
Ferrum would cut the deficit to two in the following inning with another sacrifice fly, bringing a run home.
Southern Virginia pushed the advantage back to three in their portion of the inning. With two outs,
Nick Daynes singled but would advance to second following an error by the right fielder.
Mitch Smith then recorded a crucial double down the left field line, sending Daynes home.
Jaden Giles then went to the mound for the Knights, recording two strikeouts while not allowing a hit in two innings pitched.
Southern Virginia looked to add to its lead in the sixth and seventh innings but left four runners on base to keep the score at 5-2.
Will Parker, who was third on the team in strikeouts a year ago but has been dealing with an injury this season, stepped up to the mound for his first appearance pitching this campaign. He closed out the game to register his first save of the season following four strikeouts and just two hits in the final two innings.
"It felt great to pitch again and help my team win today," exclaimed Parker. "It was very discouraging earlier this year when I wasn't sure how much I would be able to play/pitch, so to be able to go out today and get the job done felt amazing."
"Regarding my overall performance, I feel pretty good about it. I could've done better in a couple of situations, but trust that my teammates will back me up makes this year's team different from previous ones."
Parker, who also led the team with two hits and two RBIs, said, "we have to take note of the successes we had today to build confidence in each other and understand that we can play like this every game, but we also need to analyze what we could have done better as individuals as well as what we could have done better as a team so that we can continually improve this season. We'll work on what we struggled with today during practice, but getting a win like today's will give plenty of motivation for the team to continue to work hard to keep this momentum rolling. Today's game showed us that we can play in close games like this and succeed. This team doesn't quit, and we're looking forward to a great season."
Southern Virginia has a week until its next competition, a doubleheader against Capital University Wednesday, Mar. 8.
For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University baseball, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knight_bsb on Instagram.
