LYNCHBURG, Va. -- The Washington and Lee baseball team claimed the final berth in next weekend's Old Dominion Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament with a doubleheader sweep of Lynchburg College on Saturday afternoon. The Generals won the opener by a 5-0 score before winning a 3-2 thriller in the nightcap.

In the opener, freshman righthander Michael Hanson (Atlanta, Ga./Pace Academy) hurled a complete-game four-hitter to propel W&L (20-13, 9-7 ODAC) to the win. The Generals opened the scoring with two outs in the top of the fourth inning when the Hornets' second baseman lost a pop-fly in the sun. W&L went on to score twice in the frame. The Generals added three insurance runs in the final two innings for the 5-0 final score. W&L was led by freshman leftfielder Bobby Littlehale (Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook) and sophomore third-baseman Matt Kozora (Ellicott City, Md./Glenelg) with three hits apiece. In going the distance, Hanson struck out five and did not walk a single batter.

In the nightcap, W&L received another tremendous pitching effort from junior David Sigler (Strasburg, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg). The righthander hurled a complete-game four-hitter after just two days of rest since his last outing. The Hornets led for most of the contest. after scoring a lone run in the bottom of the first inning. The game remained at 1-0 until the top of the sixth, when W&L erupted for two runs to take the lead. The rally was started with a single by senior first-baseman Russell Wrenn (Baltimore, Md./Gilman). Senior rightfielder Schuyler Marshall then blasted a triple into the left-center gap, scoring pinch-runner Jason May (Houston, Texas/St. John's) to tie the contest at 1-1. Senior shortstop David Hanson (Atlanta, Ga./Pace Academy) then plated Marshall with an RBI single, giving W&L the 2-1 lead. Littlehale deposited his first home-run of the season over the leftfield fence in the top of the seventh, increasing the lead to 3-1. In the bottom of the seventh, LC notched one unearned run, but Sigler was able to regroup in retiring LC leadoff hitter Daniel Evans for the final out of the contest.

The Generals will take on top-seeded Virginia Wesleyan in the first round of the ODAC Tournament next Friday, April 28th, at 4:00 pm. The tournament will be held at City Stadium in Lynchburg, Va.
 
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