TYSONS, Va. – The No. 4 Shenandoah University Hornets opened the second round of the ODAC Baseball Championship in a double-elimination tournament held at Capital One Park in Tysons, Virginia. Shenandoah (27-16, 14-8) squared off against top-seeded Lynchburg in a battle of the Hornets but fell in the opener, 14-2.
Shenandoah took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a Brody Pickette solo home run, but Lynchburg tied the game in the bottom half. A four-run fourth inning propelled Lynchburg to a 5-1 advantage, and despite Shenandoah getting one back in the sixth, Lynchburg added nine runs over the final three innings to pull away.
Pickette, Connor Houser, and Anthony Arrichiello each had two hits, with Pickette delivering the long ball and Houser recording an RBI double. Parker Farrington started for Shenandoah and went five innings, allowing six hits and seven runs while striking out four. Orion Marshall followed with two innings of two-run ball. Ayden Shadle and Jake Holbert worked the eighth inning and surrendered five more runs.
how it happened
In the top of the first, Shenandoah went down in order via two strikeouts and a ground out. Farrington responded with a clean 1-2-3 inning to keep the game scoreless.
Pickette led off the second with a solo home run to center, giving Shenandoah a 1-0 lead. Arrichiello added a single, but the Hornets stranded him. In the bottom of the inning, Lynchburg used a double after two walks to tie the game at 1-1. Farrington escaped further trouble with back-to-back strikeouts.
Padilla doubled in the third and reached third on a ground out but was stranded 90 feet away. Farrington retired the side in order to hold the 1-1 tie.
In the fourth, Shenandoah went down quietly. In the bottom half, Lynchburg capitalized on two singles and an error to load the bases. A sacrifice fly, RBI single, and a throwing error on the next play cleared the bases and made it 5-1.
Shenandoah's fifth-inning threat featured singles by Arrichiello and Carver, but Lynchburg's pitching recorded three straight strikeouts to end it. Farrington returned in the bottom half and pitched around a one-out single, aided by a diving catch by Padilla in the gap.
Pickette's second hit of the game in the sixth set up Houser's RBI double to make it 5-2. However, Lynchburg answered with a walk and a double to push the lead to 6-2, forcing Farrington out of the game. Marshall gave up a single, another run, and eventually escaped with Shenandoah down 7-2.
The seventh saw Shenandoah go down in order again. Lynchburg added two more runs via a solo homer and an RBI double off Marshall.
With two outs in the eighth, Pickette was hit by a pitch and Houser singled, but both were stranded. Shadle took over in the bottom half and gave up three hits and two runs, aided by back-to-back outfield errors. Holbert entered and gave up a sac fly and a two-run triple as the lead ballooned to 14-2.
In the ninth, Shenandoah got a pinch-hit single from Cole Ambrosius, but he was left on base as Lynchburg closed out the game.
up next
The Hornets return to action Saturday morning in the first elimination game of the tournament, awaiting the loser of Bridgewater and Randolph-Macon.
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