LYNCHBURG, VA (April 5, 2006)—Hampden-Sydney’s baseball team dropped an Old Dominion Athletic Conference contest at Lynchburg College Wednesday afternoon, falling 14-3 to the Hornets.  The loss drops the Tigers to 14-13 overall and 6-5 in the ODAC, while Lynchburg improves to 17-10 and 4-7 in conference play. 

The Hornets had three four-run innings, posting four spots on the Tigers in the first, fifth and eighth innings to cruise to the 14-3 victory.  Lynchburg opened a 6-0 lead in the first two innings as Eric O’Brien drove in three runs in a pair of at bats, while Jon Crews and Justin Kelly also knocked in runs, chasing Tiger starter Jayson Hanky (Richmond, VA/Benedictine) who lasted one and one-third innings and was responsible for six runs (five earned) on seven hits. 

The Tigers rallied with a pair of runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to cut the Hornet lead in half, 6-3.  Tommy Burk (Leesburg, VA/Loudon Valley) and John Schoenholtz (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia/McCallie) each had RBI hits in the fourth, while John Apperson (Lynchburg, VA/Heritage) delivered on a 375-foot RBI triple off the left center field wall in the fifth. 

The Hornets broke out with a four run fifth and never looked back en route to rolling up eight runs over the final four innings.  Steven Scott drove in a pair of runs with a double in the fifth, while Kevin Nichol, Sam Bonner and Lucas Jones each drove in runs in the eighth to lead the Hornet assault. 

Jason Kelly picked up the win in relief for the Hornets as he worked four and two-thirds innings and did not allow a hit while striking out six and walking one.  He relieved Hornet starter Eric Fitzsimmons who worked the opening four and one-third innings and allowed three runs on six hits while walking three and striking out two. 

The Tigers will look to right the ship Saturday, April 8, when the team travels to Emory, VA, for a doubleheader with ODAC-foe Emory and Henry College at 12 pm.