La Verne, Calif. -- The University of Lynchburg baseball team defeated La Verne 7-1 in Game 1 of the NCAA super regionals on Friday. 

Wesley Arrington nearly pitched a third straight complete game, going eight innings with one earned run, Josh Gjormand had two hits, Benton Jones drove in two runs, and Colin McGuire closed out the ninth win in a row for the Hornets. 

Lynchburg only registered two hits through the first five innings as Arrington was locked in a pitcher's duel with La Verne's starter Niko Urquidi. 

The Leopards got on the board first with a single in the sixth, but that was one of the six hits La Verne got off Arrington and the only run. Jones and Brandon Garcia turned a double play to end the threat and keep the deficit at one. 

Garcia helped get Lynchburg on the board in the seventh with a double. He came around to score on an error, tying the game 1-1. 

Lynchburg scored six runs on only two hits in the eighth to blow the game open. Gjormand scored the first run after O'Kelly McWilliams IV was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Garcia also tallied an RBI with a bases-loaded walk, and Jones drove in two with a single. 

McGuire pitched to four batters in the ninth to close out the game and recorded one strikeout, getting Lynchburg on the precipice of advancing to the NCAA 2024 Division III baseball championship. In the best-of-three series, Lynchburg will play as the road team on Saturday, May 25 at 2 p.m. EST, looking to advance through the super regionals for a second year in a row. 

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--LYN--