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Lynchburg’s first trip to the NCAA Division III World Series is a long one
Hornets beat East Texas Baptist on Monday to assure a spot in the CWS baseball championship series
Jeff Johnson
Jun. 5, 2023 6:00 pm, Updated: Jun. 5, 2023 8:10 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS - First time at the NCAA Division III College World Series. First time in the NCAA Division III College World Series finals.
That’s not necessarily how it’s supposed to work, but it’s exactly the way it has worked for the University of Lynchburg baseball team.
The Hornets qualified for the CWS championship series with a 7-1 win Monday afternoon over East Texas Baptist at Veterans Memorial Stadium. They’re 3-0 at this tournament, on to face Johns Hopkins (47-6) in the best-of-3 finals.
Game 1 is Wednesday at noon. Game 2 is Thursday at 11 a.m., with an if-necessary, winner-take-all third game to follow.
“Feels pretty frickin’ good,” smiled Lynchburg freshman shortstop Brandon Garcia.
“Coming into Lynchburg, that’s what Coach (Lucas) Jones preached to us,” said outfielder Avery Neaves. “We might be rookies here, but we feel like we’ve been knocking on the door at the national level for awhile now. The past three years or so. We’re confident in our approach, we’re confident in our game plan, and we’re here to make some noise.”
Lynchburg (46-7), from Virginia, has gotten three quality starts from its starting pitchers here, including back-to-back complete games Saturday and Monday, both against East Texas Baptist (42-15). Wesley Arrington gave up just six hits Monday, walking one and striking out eight in a game in which he threw just shy of 130 pitches.
He credited teammate Brandon Pond for his success. Pond beat ETB, 8-3, Saturday.
“Pond showed us what it took to get them out,” Arrington said. “So it was just doing what he did. (Catcher) Holden Fiedler and (pitching coach) Michael Solbach had a game plan together. For me, it was just trusting what Fieds and Solbach had, watching what Pond did and trying to do the same thing.”
“The other night it was the Brandon Pond Show. Today it was the Wes Arrington Show,” Jones said. “Deja vu, in terms of the start and the effort that we got. Just as a whole, that was an incredible performance. Those are the things that you need in these situations, in these games.”
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