FARMVILLE, Va. — Freshman catcher Colin Smith drove in four runs and the Eagles scored 10 runs over the final four innings as the North Carolina Central University baseball team pulled away to a 14-5 non-conference victory at Longwood University Tuesday evening.
 
NCCU improved to 6-11 on the season by scoring a season-high 14 runs on 15 hits and 12 walks.
 
Smith, in only his fifth start behind the plate of his rookie season, supplied season-best totals of three hits and four RBI.
 
The Eagles trailed 3-0 after the first inning and 5-4 after the fourth inning before pulling away with a pair of four-run innings in the sixth and seventh.
 
Smith's two-run single in the sixth broke a 5-5 tie and put the maroon and gray ahead for good.
 
A total of nine Eagles collected hits, including a pair of hits off the bats of senior Myles Coston, senior Trey Maslin, junior Michael Alicea and sophomore Bryceson Hernandez.
 
NCCU's 15 hits were the second most of the season, but only three of them were of the extra base variety with senior Carter Williams, junior Cameron Norgren and sophomore Dalton Ward all belting doubles.
 
Maslin and Williams each finished with two RBI.
 
Junior Luis DeLeon drew three of NCCU's season-high 12 base on balls. DeLeon scored three times to lead all base runners.
 
The Eagles used six pitchers compared to nine by the Lancers in the over four-hour affair, with junior Shawn Runey (1-0) earning his first win of the season after allowing just one hit over 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Classmate Scott Meylan struck out the side in the ninth after entering the game with the bases loaded and no outs to clinch the nine-run victory and account for three of NCCU's pitching staff's eight K's.
 
Sophomore Andrew Gorham led Longwood (4-13) with two hits and two RBI.
 
NC Central next hosts Bryant University in a three-game weekend series at the Durham Athletic Park (DAP), beginning with the opener on Friday at 6 p.m.