Longwood at Winthrop
March 20-21, 2015
Rock Hill, S.C. • Terry Field
ESPN3 (Saturday) • Big South Network (Friday & Saturday)

Full Game Notes

Leading Off
• Longwood is primed for its first road conference series of the season, as the squad travels to Rock Hill, S.C., for a three-game series against Win­throp
• Senior Megan Baltzell was named Big South Player of the Week Monday after going deep five times last weekend at the NC State Hyatt Place Invitational. The Stafford, Va., product blasted a pair of home runs in Longwood's 5-1 win against NC State, as well as the squad's 10-7 victory over Fordham. For the season, Baltzell has eight blasts including six in her last seven games.
• Baltzell became the all-time leader in career home runs at Longwood Sunday, passing Brooke Short with 56 career homers. Baltzell tied Short in the 1st inning of Longwood's 10-7 win over Fordham, before going deep in her final at-bat to give the Lancers a 10-7 lead in the sixth inning and beat the record.
• Longwood is coming off its first ever series victory against Coatal Carolina Wednesday. The Lancers had never beaten the Chanticleers in their three seasons in the Big South, but earned two straight victories to take its first series victory of the 2015 season. Longwood has now earned at least one series win against each Big South opponent.

By The Numbers
• Longwood returns its full complement of starters from a season ago, including its top eight position players and the top eight bats in the lineup. In addition, the Lancers return their top three pitchers from last season
• Longwood will play at least 24 games against teams that finished among the top 100 in the 2014 RPI rankings with nine games against teams that finished in the top 50 of the RPI rankings.
• Depth in the circle is not an issue for Longwood in 2015, as the Lancers re­turn all three pitchers from a season ago, including two pitchers who earned all-conference accolades. If Elizabeth McCarthy is considered the 1A option for head coach Kathy Riley, then Libby Morris would be considered option 1B.
• In its opening day lineup, the Lancers had more than 900 starts by eight players. Megan Baltzell leads the group with 172 career starts.
• Longwood was picked second in the Big South by the head coaches in the pre­season. The Lancers picked up two first-place votes from the nine head coaches in the league.
• Megan Baltzell passed Brooke Short on the program's charts in career home runs, logging her 56th career round-trip­per Sunday to lead Longwood to a 10-7 victory over Fordham on the final day of the NC State Hyatt Place Invitational.
• Libby Morris looks to establish her name further into Longwood's all-time record books, as she is fifth all-time in career wins with 54 and fourth in career strike­outs with 290.
• In the fall, Longwood softball head coach Kathy Riley announced the signing of a strong recruiting class of six standout student-athletes to begin competing for the Lancers during the 2016 season. The class is comprised of four athletes from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and in­cludes one signee from Southern Califor­nia and North Carolina.
• Longwood enters its 36th season of soft­ball in 2015, as well as the 18th season under the guidance of head coach Kathy Riley. The Lancers own an all-time mark of 760-509-3, while posting a 237-142 ledger in the Division I era.

Last Time Out
• Fueled by a seven-run bottom of the sixth inning, Longwood came from five runs down to stun Big South preseason favor­ite Coastal Carolina, 9-8, Wednesday at Lancer Field.
• Wednesday's win marked the first time in the history of Longwood softball that the squad earned a series win over Coastal Carolina. With the win, the Lancers have now taken at least one series from each team in the Big South Conference since joining the league in 2013.
• A day after putting together a 4-for-4 per­formance at the plate with three home runs and three walks, Emily Murphy had her biggest hit of the series on a two-RBI bloop single to left field that scored the go-ahead runs in the sixth.
• The seven-run sixth inning was the key in­ning of the day for the Lancers (8-14, 2-1), who strung together timely hitting and was able to work a pair of bases loaded walks. Longwood sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six of the seven runs in the inning with two out.
• Morris (3-5) picked up her second straight win in the circle, pitching all seven innings and allowing eight runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out three Chan­ticleer batters. The victory for her moves her within six wins of equaling Rachel Mills for fourth all-time on the Longwood all-time wins list with 54.

Scouting Winthrop
• Longwood plays the first of four Big South series on the road, as the Lancers travel to Rock Hill, S.C. The series will mark the conference opener for Winthrop. Long­wood is 5-3 against the Eagles since join­ing the Big South in 2013.
• Similar to Longwood, Winthrop has had a difficult schedule to begin the season. The Eagles have faced two opponents inside the top-25 in Georgia and Auburn. In addition, the Eagles have faced James Madison and South Carolina, who are re­ceiving top-25 votes.
• Winthrop has five players hitting .300 or better this season with Maddie Antone leading the way with a .388 average. Win­throp has just 11 home runs this season compared to 20 hit by the Lancers.
• Winthrop utilizes three different pitchers on a regular basis with all three receiving at least six starts. Dallas King currently leads the staff with a 2.25 ERA, but has a 1-5 record on the season.