CONWAY, S.C. –The series opener with No. 23 Coastal Carolina was a pitchers' duel to end all pitchers' duels as Longwood ace Aaron Myers and Chanticleer ace Alex Cunningham sliced through hitters left and right, recording 17 of the first 30 outs via the strikeout. Yet it was Coastal Carolina (22-7, 6-1) who came up with the big hit, a two-out, seeing-eye single in the bottom of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead before blowing the game open with three unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth for a 5-1 victory.

Myers (3-5) was spectacular on the hill for the blue and white allowing just a pair of runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. The right-hander settled in after an early run in the bottom of the first to strike out the next four batters, including fanning the side in the second on his way to a nine punchout day.  The senior now owns 255 strikeouts in his career and stands just two shy of tying the all-time record in Longwood school history.

Unfortunately for Myers, it was another day of the tough-loss storyline as the Lancers produced only one run of support, coming in the first inning. Connar Bastaich, who ended the day 3-for-4, came around to score after he sparked a rally of three-consecutive one-out knocks, capped by Travis Biddix' team-leading 22nd RBI.

Coastal Carolina redshirt-sophomore Alex Cunningham had a big part in the lack of run support as the right-handed starter punched out 12 Lancers, a new career-high and just one strikeout shy of Coastal's school record. Cunningham fished with a line of seven innings pitched, allowing just the single run on six hits with the dozen strikeouts and no walks.

Trailing 2-1 after the Chanticleer run in the sixth, the Lancers looked to have one last chance in the top of the ninth, but two Longwood errors led to three unearned Coastal Carolina runs in the bottom of the eighth, all but putting the game out of reach.

"Obviously, Coastal has been playing some great baseball lately and garnering some national praise," said head coach Ryan Mau. "We knew we'd have a tough test ahead of us tonight. Aaron was spectacular, I thought he did an outstanding job with nine strikeouts and no walks. He was really dialed in and kept them off balance."

For as much of a pitchers' duel as Thursday's matchup panned out to be, the first inning was anything but a pitching showcase. Longwood (12-16, 3-7) scored its only run of the game on three straight hits in the top of the first. Bastaich ignited the inning with his single to left, before Kyri Washington roped a double off the left center field wall, setting Longwood up with men on second and third with one away.

Mr. Opportunity, Travis Biddix, stepped up and drove home his team-best 22nd RBI of the season with a single through the left side. Still, the Lancers had the chance for more with runners at the corners, but Cunningham bounced back on the mound with back-to-back strikeouts to stomp out the threat.

"I thought we did a good job of coming right out of the gate and driving some fastballs off of Cunningham," Mau said of the Lancers' early run. "He's a frontline arm and Connar really stepped up today, but we had a chance in that first inning to tack on a couple more and didn't. When you have an ace on the mound with that kind of stuff, you have to put a big number on the board when you get the chance."

 Coastal Carolina would answer right back in its half of the first as the Chanticleers used a pair of hits to square the game back up. Leadoff hitter Anthony Marks lined a 1-0 fastball into left field and subsequently advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a wild pitch. That allowed Connor Owings to bring home the tying run on a lined, sacrifice fly to center.

From that point, all the lights focused on the pitcher's mound as Myers and Cunningham reeled off strikeout after strikeout, dominating the game and holding both sides scoreless through the fifth inning.

Longwood had a rare chance to manufacture a run in the top of the sixth as Alex Lewis came oh-so-close to a two-out solo shot to right center. Instead, the sophomore had to settle for a double off the wall, giving Longwood the first chance to jump ahead in the middle innings. But, Cunningham once more quashed the threat with a strikeout to end the frame.

Coastal rewarded its starter by finally breaking through again, plating a run on two hits in the bottom half to take a lead it would never relinquish. A one-out single and stolen base set the Chants up for the run, but they would have to wait until G.K. Young sent a two-out, seeing-eye single just underneath a diving Brandon Harvell at second to take the lead.

After a perfect seventh from Cunningham, Coastal turned the game over to Bobby Holmes who would benefit from the only crooked number put on the scoreboard.

With the game within one swing of the bat heading to the bottom of the eighth, Coastal leapt at an opportunity to put the game away as Longwood committed two errors. On just two hits, one of which came on a bunt, the Chanticleers plated three runs to bust the game open and make the ninth inning much more comfortable.

"When you make a couple of errors in an inning and give a team of that caliber some extra outs, they're going to make you pay," said Mau. "They certainly did that tonight and unfortunately, we let that one get a little further out of reach than it should have been."

Longwood and Coastal Carolina will continue the series with a 7 p.m. start tomorrow from Springs Brooks Stadium. Friday's game will be carried on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

#GoWood