NCAA D-III College World Series: Lynchburg rides Arrington’s arm to first-round upset of top-seeded Endicott

Travis Beazley made a few visits to the mound to converse with starting pitcher Wesley Arrington on May 31 at Classic Park.

Maybe Beazley, the manager for the University of Lynchburg baseball team, needed to get some exercise or stretch his legs. Because if the last month has shown Beazley anything, it’s that Arrington finishes what he starts.

Dazzling with his pitching performance for the fourth game in a row, Arrington walked none and struck out 12 in leading the eighth-seeded Hornets to a 7-2 win over top-seeded Endicott College in the first round of the Division III College World Series.

Arrington (10-2) gave up back-to-back doubles to Danny McDougal and Brendan O’Neill in the sixth inning, but was otherwise in control as Lynchburg — the defending Division III CWS champions — cast Endicott into the consolation bracket by giving them only their third loss in 49 games this season.

PHOTOS: Lynchburg vs. Endicott NCAA Division III World Series baseball, May 31, 2024

The win puts Lynchburg (36-15) into a second-round game on June 1 against fifth-seeded Misericordia, which topped fourth-seeded Pomona-Pitzer in the tournament lidlifter. First pitch is slated for 1:15 p.m.

“I just looked up in the sixth and thought, ‘I’ve got a shot at finishing this,” Arrington said, which drew a smirk from his coach.

“He talks about the sixth and thinking about having a chance to finish the game,” Beazley said. “As a staff, we’re looking at the scoreboard in the first thinking, ‘He’s got a chance to finish the game.'”

Arrington has been at his best since the postseason got rolling. He no-hit Randolph-Macon in a 5-0 victory in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference title game, pitched his team to a 3-1 win over Ithica in a regional game, got the win in his team’s 7-1 win over LaVerne in a Super Regional game before mowing down Endicott.

Add it all up, and over his past four starts he has pitched 35 of a possible 36 innings, giving up four total earned runs with 11 walks and 31 strikeouts.

Endicott manager Bryan Haley had no problem pinpointing the reason his team had tasted defeat for only the third time this season — it was the dude wearing No. 45 in Lynchburg’s colors.

“I was impressed by Arrington’s performance,” Haley said. “I thought he executed pitches at a extremely high level. … He’s a horse. He expected to be there and he finished the game. That was a pretty impressive performance.”

Endicott thought it had gotten to Arrington when they cut the margin to 6-2 in the sixth and had the bases loaded with one out in the eighth. But Arrington struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam.

Endicott got a leadoff single in the ninth, but Arrington fanned the next three batters to end the game.

“I definitely think my stuff got better as the game went on,” Arrington said. “Striking out those two guys propelled me and got my adrenaline going a little bit more. It took my mind of being tired.”

Adrenaline wasn’t a big problem for Lynchburg in general as it headed to Northeast Ohio this week. After winning the national title last year, the Hornets entered this year’s tourney as the No. 8 seed in and eight-team bracket.

“There’s no doubt that ‘8’ next to our name gives us some motivation for sure,” said sophomore second baseman Braden Garcia.

Lynchburg took a 4-0 lead in the second thanks in part to a pair of hit batsmen, an error and a two-run single by Garcia. Beazley termed the early lead “huge,” especially with Endicott ace Jordan Gottesman, who entered the game 11-0 with a 3.04 ERA.

Lynchburg extended its lead in the fourth when Garcia drove in O’Kelley McWilliams with a grounder. Garcia drove in Joe Munitz with a single in the sixth as well.

The Hornets didn’t need many insurance runs, not with the way Arrington was pitching, but got one in the top of the ninth on a grounder that plated McWilliams.

“Hats off to them,” Haley said. “They beat us pretty cleanly.”

Haley said the most important thing for his team to do is to put the game in the rearview mirror and to “win four in a row and get to the final series.” Meanwhile, Lynchburg hopes to continue its postseason run that dates to last season.

“Days like today, you feel more like a fan than a coach,” Beazley said.

In other first-round games:

Misericordia 6, Pomona-Pitzer 3

Brock Bollinger had three hits and drove in a pair, including an insurance run in the ninth inning, as fifth-seeded Misericordia defeated fourth-seeded Pomona-Pitzer, 6-3, in the opening round of the Division III College Baseball World Series.

The Cougars (39-9) trailed, 3-2, going into the sixth inning when Jason Sanfilippo singled in Joe Comins to tie the game. Then Garrett McIlhenney was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force Owen Daminger home with the go-ahead run and a 4-3.

Misericordia got a pair of insurance runs in the ninth to stretch the lead out to 6-3.

Joe Valenti got the win, going six innings, walking one and striking out two. Matt Lanzendorfer pitched three scoreless to get the save. Jake Hilton took the loss for Popmona-Pitzer (37-13).

* This article will be updated as first-round games progress.