HIGH POINT, N.C. - Lynchburg turned back LaGrange 4-1 in the High Point Regional on Thursday at Truist Point. The third-seeded Panthers try to avoid elimination Friday when they take on top-seeded Salisbury at 1:30 p.m.
"It was a tough loss. We had some situations when we could have done something with it, but couldn't get the big hit, said Coach David Kelton. "They got the big hit and we didn't. You have to give their pitchers a lot of credit. They did a good job of keeping us off balance."
Lynchburg (35-13) held the Panthers to their lowest run production of the season. LC had eight hits in the game, but the Hornets turned four double plays in the game to thwart Panther scoring chances.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Rhett Mixon led off with a single and went to third on Cael Chatham's one-out base hit. E.J. Churchich's fly out to right drove in Mixon with the first run of the game.
Lynchburg tied the game with a run in the fourth inning and Garrett Jackson broke the tie in the fifth with a two-run two-out home run, his 10th of the season. The Hornets added to their lead in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Holden Fiedler.
The Panthers had their scoring opportunities. Jack Layrisson doubled with one out in the second but was stranded. In the fifth, they loaded the bases with one out on base hits by David Smigelski and Rhett Hebert, and Mixon reaching safely on an error. But Zack Potts (7-0) got ouf the jam with the help of an inning-ending double play. In the eighth, Joe Ruth was left on third after doubling with one out and moving over on a ground out. Ruth and Layrisson each had two hits in the game.
Potts pitched 7-2/3 innings, scattering eight hits, allowing the one run, not walking a batter, and striking out four. Grayson Thurman closed out the game for his third save of the season.
Baley Coleman (8-4) started and took the loss for LC. Coleman allowed all four runs on 11 hits in 5-2/3 innings, did not walk a batter, and struck out four. Tanner Chafin, Brett Caneega, and Spencer Douches combined for 3-1/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing one hit. Caneega struck out all four batters he faced.
The Panthers last faced Salisbury in a 4-2 loss at the South Regional in 2017.
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