Infield hit the difference in Longwood loss
Published 10:17 am Thursday, April 21, 2016
DURHAM, N.C. — Zachary Marszal’s infield single drove in the winning run in the fifth inning as N.C. Central snuck past Longwood, 5-3, Tuesday at Durham Athletic Park.
Masrzal, who finished the game 1-for-3, tapped a slow roller to third base with two outs, but it was just enough to drive in the go-ahead run for N.C. Central (21-19, 8-7 MEAC) as the Eagles got just enough offense to end Longwood’s (22-16, 7-5 Big South) three-game winning streak.
“I thought we came out a little flat today,” Longwood head coach Ryan Mau said after the loss. “We made a few mental mistakes that won’t show up in the box score, but proved to be the difference in tonight’s game. Offensively we didn’t look comfortable in the box and weren’t able to put many quality at-bats together.”
Jamar Hinton (2-1) picked up the victory for N.C. Central out of the bullpen with 2.0 innings facing the minimum. James Dey, who started the game as the designated hitter for N.C. Central, picked up the save, his first, on 2.0 perfect innings and four strikeouts; Dey was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored at the plate. Cody Wager (2-2) took the loss after allowing two runs on three hits with one walk in 2.2 innings. Wager was solid out of the bullpen, not allowing any runs until Marszal’s weakly-hit infield single, which broke a 3-3 tie in the home half of the fifth.