Livingston, Ala. – Andrew Virgili had another dominating performance on the mound while Lynn University's baseball team took advantage of one error in a 5-4 victory over West Alabama on Friday afternoon. Virgili struck out a career-high eight batters to pick up his third victory while the Fighting Knights improved to 4-3 overall.
The Blue & White struck quickly, posting three runs in the opening frame to put the Tigers on their heels. Austin Smith opened the game with the first of his three hits and advanced to second a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Radzewski. Fortunately for LU, the throw off Radzewski's sac was thrown away by UWA pitcher Colter Milican, giving the Knights two runners.
Anthony Boza logged the first RBI with a single into center and Eric Herrera followed with another RBI single making it 2-0. Dane Derstine loaded the bases later in the inning with a walk and Boza raced across home plate a batter later when Milican's pitch bounced off home plate and towards the back stop.
Johnny Broderick plated Phil Mannelly in the fourth to make it a 4-0 game while Mannelly added the pivotal fifth run in the seventh with an RBI single to score Wes Soto.
Virgili (3-0) cruised through the first five innings, allowing just one hit, but ran into trouble in the sixth. The Tigers (3-5) got on the scoreboard when LU's right-handed starter plunked Chris Duncan for the third time, Brian Simone singled and Micah Reaves drove Duncan home with a fielder's choice.
A bad pitch to the No. 8 hitter in the seventh brought West Alabama one run closer. John Jennings lifted a two-out fastball over the left field fence to close the gap to 5-2.
Lynn got out of a major jam in the eighth after allowing the first two runners on base. Sam Jones came in for relief and had his defense provide a highlight reel play. Reaves sent a ground ball to third where Herrera tagged his runner and threw to second. Kyle Radzewski stepped on the bag and rifled a throw to Boza at first to complete the triple play.
West Alabama made things interesting in the ninth, getting two runs home and loading the bases with two outs. Jason Whelan, however, got Simone to ground out weakly to first to end the game while picking up his second save.
The Fighting Knights continue their four-game series at West Alabama on Saturday at 2 p.m. Fans can follow the game live by logging on to www.LynnFightingKnights.com and selecting "Game Central."
