NORFOLK, Va. – The middle of Longwood's order brought the wood Tuesday night as the four through seven hitters combined for 12 of the Lancers' 14 hits and produced all nine RBI for the blue and white in a 9-2 win at Norfolk State. The nine runs were a season-high for Longwood while the Lancers also matched their season-best total of 14 base knocks.

Kyri Washington entered the game having hit in just one of his last 14 at-bats. That changed in a big way as the 6-1, 215-pound junior left fielder went 3-for-5 with five RBI to lead the Lancers at the plate. Washington provided the fireworks as the slugger bombed his fifth home run of the season in the top of the third inning to stake Longwood (6-8) to a 4-0 lead.

Senior Brandon Delk manned the designated hitter spot and ripped four singles in five at-bats to set the tone out of the cleanup spot. The regular right fielder for the Lancers continued his assault on opposing pitching with his seventh multi-hit game of the season. Delk also scored all four times he reached, setting a new single-game high for runs scored by a Lancer this season.

Not to be left out, Michael Osinski and Travis Biddix also contributed big days at the plate. The freshman shortstop Osinski went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI for his fourth multi-hit performance in the last five games. Biddix, meanwhile, had two base knocks and an RBI to add to the huge game from the heart of the order.

"I was really impressed with the way we defended," said Mau. "I thought Brandon Harvell made some really nice plays and Connar Bastaich picked a couple up out of the dirt. I thought we did a good job of throwing strikes and offensively, we produced at the right time."

For the eighth time this season, Longwood scored in the first inning as the Lancers put a two-spot on the board in their first at-bat. After two quick outs to open the game, Connar Bastaich sparked a string of four-consecutive singles to give freshman hurler Michael Catlin a lead before he stepped on the mound.

In his second collegiate start, Catlin managed to battle through 4.1 innings while scattering five hits and allowing just two runs. The rookie southpaw did not work the required five innings to be eligible for the victory but he did fan five hitters to give the Lancers a strong start.

"Catlin did a good job," said Mau. "He got himself into a little bit of trouble, I didn't think he had his fastball command today, but he had his breaking ball working for him and was able to pitch out of a jam early. He just ran into a bit of a high pitch count especially with our need for him out of the bullpen this weekend."

Washington would provide the youngster with a pair of insurance runs in the top of the third when the powerful right hander sent a towering two-run shot over the right field wall. It was Washington's fifth home run of the season and the fourth of the opposite field variety.

"Kyri made an adjustment with coach Oxendine on the off day," said Mau. "He did a great job of bringing it into the game today, driving the ball the other way for the opposite field home run and then a crucial ninth-inning double to break the game open and give us a little insurance."

Norfolk State (3-5) would answer right back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third to pull within 4-2. The Spartans used a leadoff double and an error to setup back-to-back RBI-singles from Ismael Herrera and Angel Rosario.

That was as close as Norfolk State would come as the Longwood bullpen bounced back from a tough weekend to fire 4.2 innings of no-hit ball. Three relievers combined to face just one over the minimum of 14 batters in the final 4.2 innings.

Mitchell Kuebbing (1-3) took the lead out of the bullpen and tossed 1.1 shutout innings to pick up his first victory of the season. The lanky right-hander issued a free pass and struck out one in his five batters faced before turning the reins over to Travis Burnette.

Burnette has been Longwood's Saturday starter so far this season, but came on out of the bullpen today after a short and rocky outing at Georgia last weekend. Burnette looked sharp in 1.1 innings himself, retiring all four batters he faced including striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh.

After Longwood tacked on an insurance run in the top of the eighth to make it a 5-2 game, Devin Gould entered to finish off the final two innings. Gould worked what might have been his best outing of the young season, fanning two and shutting down Norfolk State over the final two frames for his first save of the season.

"We got Kuebbing an opportunity to get some work in and he did a great job," Mau said. "Burnette was looking to clean some things up and I though he found the breaking ball today which is good to see and struck out the side. Finally, Devin really stepped up for us in a save situation and slammed the door."

At the plate, Longwood finished the game off strong and left little to question heading into the bottom of the ninth.

C.J. Roth got the inning started by drawing a one-out walk before beating out a throw to second on a hard-hit ground ball from Bastaich. That left two men on with one out for the middle of the order and the Lancer bats made Norfolk State pay. Delk pushed a single through the right side of the infield to cap off his four hit day and score Roth.

"I thought Delk had a fantastic approach today," Mau said. "Obviously it paid off with a 4-for-5 day."

 A batter later, Washington crushed a two-run double into the right field gap which was followed by an Osinski RBI-double two batters later. When the dust had settled, Longwood had put up four runs on three hits to ice away its sixth win of the season.

"Overall, I thought it was a great team win and hopefully something to build off of and get the momentum rolling going into the Campbell series," said Mau.  

Longwood will open conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Campbell. The Fighting Camels were picked fourth in the 2015 Big South Preseason Poll and are currently 14-2 after defeating East Carolina Tuesday night.