MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – Pitchers ruled the roost in Big Rock Stadium on Saturday as Longwood and Army split a pair of pitchers' duels. Army claimed the opener as Alex Robinett no-hit the Lancers to outduel Aaron Myers who allowed just a single run while scattering six hits in a 1-0 loss.

Longwood (2-6) returned the favor in game two, shutting out Army 3-0 on the back of 7.1 innings of six-hit ball from Travis Burnette. The outing was a career-long for the junior who also tossed a career-high 120 pitches, spinning an absolute gem.

The Lancers scored the only run they would need in the bottom of the first after C.J. Roth led off with a single and later scored on an RBI-single from Brandon Delk. The first two Longwood hits of the day produced the game-winning run, forcing a decisive rubber match on Sunday.

"Today was a day of limited opportunities offensively for both clubs," said head coach Ryan Mau. "Game one was your prototypical Friday night with two frontline arms going at it. Myers and Robinett both had great stuff today, making it very tough on both offenses."

Army 1 Longwood 0

Both starting pitchers went toe-to-toe as Army's Alex Robinett and Longwood's Aaron Myers each tossed impressive complete games in the front-end of Saturday's doubleheader at Big Rock Stadium. In the end, it was Robinett who came out on top, no-hitting the Lancers and leading Army to a series opening victory.

Robinett (1-1) was electric from the outset, allowing just five Lancers to reach the entire game.  With a well-placed fastball and sharp slider, the 6-0, 190-pound senior silenced the Longwood bats all afternoon. The gem was the first no-hitter for the Black Knight ace, who lowered his ERA to a remarkable 0.60.

Nearly as spectacular was Longwood's own ace, Aaron Myers (1-2). The veteran right-hander was wheeling and dealing at ease, scattering just six hits, two of which were bunt singles, across his nine innings of work. Myers fanned six Black Knights, moving him into sole possession of fourth on Longwood's all-time strikeout list.

Neither team could break through for the first five innings of the game, as Myers and Robinett traded blows. The Black Knights snagged the game's only run in the top half of the sixth after nine-hole hitter Ben Smith walked to lead off the frame. The walk came back to haunt the Lancers as Smith crossed on a two-out single from Alex Jensen, giving the Black Knights and Robinett all they needed to take the series opener.

Longwood's best chance came in the bottom half of the sixth as center fielder Colton Konvicka drew a one-out walk. The speedster proceeded to swipe second and third, picking up his fifth steal of the season in the process. With Konvicka 90 feet away from tying the game, Robinett escaped unscathed by getting a pop up to shortstop.  

Robinett finished the game by retiring the final seven Lancers he faced to record his seventh complete game of his collegiate career and tag Longwood with its first no-hitter in the Division I era.  

Longwood 3 Army 0

Not to be outdone by the starters in game one, Burnette and Army starter Julian Latimer locked in an equally impressive showdown in game two. Burnette was electric for the Lancers, working a career high 7.1 innings scattering six hits and fanning three Black Knights.

The 6-0, 173-pound junior worked out of three early jams, including a bases-loaded, one-out conundrum in the fourth. Burnette induced a comebacker, cutting down the potential tying run at the plate and then got Harold Earls, Army's top hitter coming into the series, to pop out in foul territory, ending the threat.

"Travis did a great job of working through a little bit of trouble here and there and really got stronger as the game went on," Mau said.

On a day when a stiff 20-mph wind knocked every ball down, Burnette took advantage by pumping strikes, 73 to be exact in a 120-pitch outing. Once Burnette ran out of gas after a magnificent performance, Mitchell Kuebbing picked up the final 1.2 innings for his second save of the season.

Kuebbing entered with two on and just one out, but navigated out of the jam in just six pitches, forcing a fly out and a ground ball to end the Army threat. The sophomore worked a scoreless ninth inning as well, stranding two after a double and a walk to preserve the win. Kuebbing also struck out a pair of Black Knights in his seven batters faced.

While the pitching staff was dealing, the Longwood bats capitalized on limited opportunities. Brandon Delk led the Lancers going 2-for-4 with the game-winning RBI in the first inning. Connar Bastaich also kept his season-long reached-base streak alive with a 1-for-4 day at the plate in game two.

After providing just a single run of support for Burnette in the first seven innings, the Lancers tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth after Brandon Harvell and Colton Konvicka led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Both Harvell and Konvicka finished the second game of the day 1-for-3 with a run scored.

"I thought Kuebbing coming into the eighth and stranding two runners as Travis ran out of gas there was huge for us," said Mau. "Then to come back in the bottom half, Harvell and Konvicka both had big hits to get things started for us. I'm glad we were able to tack on two, but I thought we should have gone for more right there. That's something we'll learn from, when you have an opportunity to really blow a game open, you've got to get it done. It was great to get two and Mitch did a great job closing the game out."

After Longwood had endured a six-game stretch without a quality start, the Lancers found two fantastic outings on Saturday. For coach Mau, it was an example of hard work paying off.

"That's the one area we went to work on this week knowing we needed to get better at," said Mau. "Myers and Burnette both delivered in a big way. Of course Aaron going a complete game and just being on the short end of a pitching duel is a tough one for him, but he did an outstanding job."

Longwood will look for a third-consecutive quality start and a series victory in the rubber match set for Sunday at 12 p.m.