Hampton, VA - The Southern Virginia baseball team has now faced Apprentice School twice this season, looking dominant in their first matchup in the 14-10 win at home last month. Today, however, was a different story as the Builders flipped the script on the Knights and put together an impressive 17-hit and 6-strikeout win against the Knights. The final score after 9 innings was 13-4 in favor of Apprentice School, putting Southern Virginia University at a 10-13 record for the year and bringing the all-time record against the Builders to 5-6.
 
The Knights took advantage of their opportunity to bat first, and the Builders conversely didn't seem quite woken up yet. Lead-off batter Seth Lloyd made it to first base thanks to a fielding error by the first baseman. Shortly after, Zack Geertsen shot a single into left field that would've only resulted in men on first and second base, but another fielding error, this time by the left fielder, allowed Geertsen to advance to second base and Lloyd to score. After Geertsen's hit, the following 3 batters all got a hit as well, including an RBI single from Stockton Hall and an RBI double from Mitch Smith.
 
Despite the quick 3-run start for the visiting team, Apprentice School didn't seem to bat an eye after that and immediately followed up with a 4-run performance in the bottom of the first. They would continue to stack on 5 more runs unanswered until the top of the eighth inning. With the score now 3-9, lead-off batter Nick Daynes launched a double into right-center field, advanced to third base on a fly out to center field, and eventually crossed home plate from a Garrett Stauffer ground out RBI.
 
The Builders stacked on 4 insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, and unfortunately for Southern Virginia, they could not crawl back from the 9-run deficit in the last inning and the resulting final score would be 13-4.
 
Two Knight batters stood out today, one being CF Nick Daynes who ended the day 3 for 4 with 1 run, 1 double, and 1 stolen base. The other was 2B Mitch Smith who went 2 for 3 with 1 RBI, 2 doubles, and 1 walk.
 
The Southern Virginia baseball team is back on the road this weekend, heading to face off against conference opponent William Peace University in Raleigh, North Carolina in a 3-game series beginning on Friday, April 12th at 6 PM. The Pacers sit just below the Knights in the USA South Athletic Conference standings, so winning this series would give themselves a much needed boost towards playoffs that are just around the corner.
 
For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University baseball, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knight_bsb on Instagram.