Lynchburg Post 16 rallies past Big Island Post 217 in ninth

Dustin Arrowood was having a terrible game for Lynchburg Post 16’s baseball team in its first meeting of the American Legion baseball season against Big Island Post 217, Thursday night at Liberty University’s Worthington Stadium.

The Rustburg graduate and rising junior at Bridgewater College struck out in his first three trips to the plate against Big Island starter Kyle Goddard and committed an error at first base that led to a couple of insurance runs in the top of the ninth.

But after delivering sacrifice flies against reliever Jake Tanner in the sixth, tying the game at 4-4, and eighth, bringing Post 16 back within 7-6, the left-handed-hitting Arrowood delivered the last two of his four RBIs on the night in a four-run ninth.

He ripped the first pitch from Jefferson Forest graduate and rising Lynchburg College sophomore southpaw Trevor Johnston for a two-out, two-run, game-winning single and a dramatic 10-9 triumph, capping a back-and-forth battle between area rivals.

"We had a much better effort tonight than (Wednesday) night," Lynchburg coach Chris Glaize said of a loss to Albemarle. "Win or lose, we want to play with a little heart and character. We have been kicking it around (in the field) and leaving runners in scoring position (at bat), but we came through when we needed it the most tonight."

In 2009, Arrowood had hit a game-winning solo home run in the top of the seventh inning of the Seminole District championship game against JF’s Brian Goddard, Kyle’s brother, before he and Lynchburg teammate Chris Walker led Rustburg to the Group AA championship game.

"In the past, I’ve hit well against Jefferson Forest pitching," Arrowood said. "We haven’t been playing well together lately, so this was big for our team. We finally played together as a team."

The late-night comeback spoiled a big night for Big Island’s Bryan Sanderson, a teammate of Arrowood’s at Bridgewater.

Sanderson hit for the cycle, also driving in four runs, including what would have been a game-winning two-run homer in the seventh, when he drove in former JF teammate Mark Heideman with a blast to left for a 7-5 advantage. He also doubled to left center in the first and tripled over center fielder Ben Simmons in the fifth before singling to right to bring home Heideman in the ninth.

Simmons also hit a two-run, line-drive round-tripper to left in the fourth, driving in Walker to tie the game at 4-4 for Lynchburg starting pitcher James Gaines (6 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 2 ER). Then in the ninth, after Walker singled to center and Willie Sligh followed with a hit to left, Simmons sliced a rope to right that Heideman tracked down for the second out.

But after Tanner walked Wil Parsons to load the bases, Big Island coach Kelley Russell went to Johnston, who walked Joseph Knight (3-4, three runs) to force in a run and allowed a comeback infield hit to Rick Adams (3-5, two RBIs), setting the table for Arrowood’s game-winner.

"Whenever we play Lynchburg (4-4), it always seems to wind up a one-run game," said Russell, whose team slipped to 3-4.

"We’re pretty evenly matched," Sanderson added. "We’ll play them again on Sunday (again at LU). We need to come out mentally prepared and be ready to go, just put this game behind us."