LYNCHBURG, Va. – Host University of Lynchburg earned its first ODAC baseball championship in nine years Saturday with a 9-8 victory over No. 17 Shenandoah in game three of the league championship series.
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Down to its final three outs, Lynchburg (34-13) rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to deny Shenandoah (31-11) its third straight ODAC title.
IN BRIEF
SU, with two runs in the third and one each in the sixth and seventh, held an 8-4 lead with nine outs to obtain.
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Lynchburg halved its deficit with a two-run seventh and after All-Tournament honoree
Colby Martin worked through a scoreless eighth, needed to rally in its final at-bat.
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The hosts did just that as Shenandoah reliever
Ethan Laird hit leadoff hitter Avery Neaves on a 1-2 pitch and then tournament MOP PJ Alvanos knotted the game at 8-8 with a two-run home run to right.
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Gavin Collins singled, before Carrson Atkins sacrificed Collins to second. Shenandoah skipper
Kevin Anderson then brought on lefty
Cade Templeton to face pinch hitter Avery Combs, and Combs delivered with a single to right to score Collins from second and send the Fox Field crowd into a frenzy.
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Frankie Ritter was 3-for-5 with
Grant Thompson and
Matt Moon both getting two hits. Moon had his first career home run with a two-run dinger in the third to put SU up 6-4.
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Laird (1-1) allowed three runs on two hits in 1/3 of an inning.
NOTABLE
Ritter and
Haden Madagan joined Martin on the all-tournament team for SU.
The game was Anderson's 1000
th as a college head coach. He is now 684-314-2 as a head coach.Â
UP NEXT
Shenandoah will await the official announcement of the NCAA Tournament field Sunday evening.
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