DANVILLE, VA. -- A pair of two-run outbursts in the seventh and eighth innings lifted the Apprentice School on Wednesday afternoon over Danville Community College 7-5 at Dan Daniels Park.
The Builders jumped out with a run in the first inning as Chris Aldridge beat out an infield single and stole second before moving to third on a Devorn Lake single to shallow left field. Travis Franklin followed with a sacrifice fly to medium right field allowing Aldridge to score.
DCC scored a run in their half of the first and another run in the second before the Builders scratched a run across in the fourth to tie the game. Ryan Hendrickson drew a walk before Chris Perry doubled him in with a blast down the right field line.
The Knights broke the game open with three runs in the bottom of the fourth with two of those coming in on a Brandon Mitchell double to dead centerfield. Apprentice School started a rally with a run in the sixth as Hendrickson was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on consecutive hits from Zach Harding and Perry before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Chris Scarola.
In the seventh, the Builders tied the game with a pair of runs as Aldridge started the inning with a single and scored as Lake doubled him in with a shot to right-centerfield. Following a shallow single by Franklin, Andrew Hooper sacrificed both of them up a base with a groundout. Hendrickson then ripped a shot to shortstop who started to make an attempt to get Lake at the plate and bobbled the throw attempt allowing Lake to tie the game.
The eighth inning saw the Builders take a lead as Perry singled and advanced on a Scarola sacrifice bunt. Following a strikeout, Aldridge singled to right field and the throw home to get Perry allowed Aldridge to move up to second. Lake followed with a single to left field to plate Aldridge for the two-run cushion.
Senior Daniel Lutz earned his third win of the year by throwing five innings of scoreless relief allowing four hits and striking out four. Sophomore Chris Perry had a career-best 4-for-5 day while Aldridge and Lake had three hits apiece for the Builders.
Apprentice School is now off until April 4 when they travel to NCAA Division III third-ranked Christopher Newport University for a 3 pm start.