Birmingham, Ala. -- The University of Lynchburg baseball team escaped the first road trip of the season with a 10-9 win over Millikin on Sunday afternoon.
In a back and forth affair, Mason McDowell pitched three, scoreless relief innings to close the game and earn the win, and Bryce Demory broke a 9-9 tie in the eighth inning to give Lynchburg its second consecutive win.
Before McDowell and Demory's late-game heroics, Logan Tapman started the game for the Hornets. He was knocked out of the game and lifted for Josh Gjormand in the second inning but only one of the three runs he allowed were earned.
Brandon Garcia gave the Hornets their first lead with a two-RBI single to center field in the fourth. After O'Kelly McWilliams IV drove home Logan Webster, Riley O'Donovan blasted a two-run home run to put the Hornets up by three in the fifth.
The Big Blue continued to threaten throughout the game, and another three-spot in the top of the seventh proved pivotal for the Hornets. Garcia tallied two more RBI, and Webster notched an RBI on a sacrifice fly scoring Quinn Madden.
McDowell came into the game in the seventh to stop the bleeding as the Hornets were in a jam. With runners on and no outs, the sophomore allowed a single that scored two, but the runs were credited to Jack Bachmore, the 2023 All-American who had pitched before McDowell. In the final two innings after Demory's go-ahead RBI, McDowell didn't allow a hit and struck out two of the final three batters of the game to seal a 10-9 victory.
Lynchburg (2-1) continues its loaded nonconference schedule away from Fox Field on Friday, Feb. 23 and play SUNY Cortland and Salisbury at 4:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. in a double-header featuring three former national champions. Lynchburg also plays Marietta on Saturday, Feb. 24.
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--LYN--
