Fairfax County natives guide Lynchburg Baseball to national championship

Fairfax County has been considered by the outside world as a place of high education. It is also the site of championship-winning athletes in a variety of sports. The University of Lynchburg baseball team is fortunate to have some of them on their roster. 

Last Friday, the Hornets outlasted Johns Hopkins University 7-6 to win the 2023 NCAA Division III National Championship, the first baseball title for the team in program history. Senior Jack Bachmore, formerly of West Potomac High, earned the victory despite a shaky start in the first inning with four runs allowed. 

Lynchburg finished the season with a 48-8 mark on the season, an ODAC record, The Hornets are the first ODAC team and DIII school from Virginia to win a national championship in baseball.

“The first thing that went through my head was a little recap of the whole year, all the sacrifices everybody made, and all the hard work everyone’s put in all coming to fruition,” James Madison High graduate Josh Gjormand said. “Storming the field, going out there and jumping the fence and on that dog pile with all of our boys is something that I’ve never experienced anything like before, it was amazing.”

Junior Gavin Collins’, from Centreville, single in the bottom of the first inning allowed Lynchburg to cut the deficit to two. Senior Avery Neaves, a graduate of South Lakes was one of the two runners that scored as a result of Collins’ single. 

“You just got a clear head, you just go back to the basics,” Collins said on his early hit. “Getting two runs back in the game after going down early was huge for us.”

With the game tied at 4 after two innings, Hopkins once again took the lead in the fifth inning but Lynchburg quickly responded with Keysville native Jackson Harding recording a bases-clearing triple to make the game 7-5. Hopkins would add one more run in the eighth inning before senior reliever Wesley Arrington from Keswick delivered the final outs to secure the title for the Hornets. 

“Our defense played with a different level of confidence and drive the entire series. Regardless if we made the play or not, we knew we were going to get another chance and our teammates were going to pick us up either on defense or at the plate,” Collins said. 

Gjormand, Neaves, and Collins all played in the FCPS system during their time in school, and each of them had similar paths in their journey to Lynchburg as they all played baseball for much of their lives. 

Unlike Gjormand and Collins, who said they were brought up in baseball-loving families, Neaves grew to love the sport in a different way. While they all won national championship, none of them won a state title during their time in school. Collins unfortunately didn’t have a 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Gjormand was fortunate to capture a few district titles while Neaves was part of a Seahawk team that reached the regional semi-final during his senior year. 

Gjormand says recruiting his teammates to Lynchburg was a simple task, believing both Collins and Neaves had the right makeup to help the Hornets pursue a championship. 

“I just knew they were two studs (Collins and Neaves) that can help turn our program into something special,” Gjormand said. “I just told them how much I love the program, how much I love the guys and how special our team already was, and how special I think it could be.”

Gjormand will be returning for his senior season, Neaves will graduate, and Collins will return next year as well. When asked about this experience. Neaves didn’t hold back, saying team chemistry played a significant role in what they just pulled off. 

“Whether we won the national championship or not, this would have been the greatest team I’ve ever been a part of,” Neaves said. “The camaraderie, the chemistry, and the love and respect on this team is like no other.”