Leading Off
•Longwood enters Wednesday's game after sweeping Lehigh over the weekend. The wins ended a seven-game losing skid.
•Longwood enters 1-14 against in-state opponents.
•The Lancers fell to Norfolk State, 15-13, last Wednesday, after trailing 9-0 in the second inning.
•Longwood's offense is starting to find a groove as the Lancer lineup now features four hitters hitting better than .280.
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Michael Osinski is the top hitter by average in the Lancer lineup, hitting .304 with a team-high 18 extra-base hits and leads the team with 35 RBI.
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Cody Wager and
Zach Potojecki are tied for the league lead in strikeouts with 72 each on the season. The two righties have posted three 10-strikeout outings each.
•Longwood leads the Big South in strikeouts with 437, three shy of the school record.
Last Time Out
•Longwood swept Lehigh over the weekend, taking the first game, 3-2, on a walk-off single by
Nate Blakeney. Longwood won game two, 7-4, and scored five in the eighth for a 12-7 win Sunday.
Michael Osinski scored the tying run in the seventh and drove in the winning runs in the eighth.
By The Numbers
•Zach Potojecki struck out a career-best 13 batters at Savannah State on 3/3, one shy of the school record for a single game. Potojecki struck out 10 at Gardner-Webb on 4/9 and again struck out 10 against Liberty on 4/30.
•Cody Wager struck out 10 batters at UNC Wilmington 3/11 and was magical again with 10 strikeouts in 8.1 shutout innings vs. Charleston Southern 3/18, taking a no-hitter two outs into the eighth. Wager then struck out a career-high 13 batters in a complete game win against Presbyterian 4/13.
•Longwood leads the conference in punchouts with 437, three shy of the school record.
•Wager and Potojecki are tied for the Big South lead with 72 strikeouts. Potojecki is 16th in the country with 12.07 strikeouts per nine innings.
Longwood is 6th in the country with 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings as a team.
•Junior outfielder Sammy Miller has been great in the lead-off role, reaching base at a rate of .368 (21-for-57) when leading off an inning. Miller is second in the conference with 20 steals.
•Longwood has placed around the top 30 in several statistical categories in the NCAA.
NCAA • Team Strikeouts Per 9 inn.
Rank K/9
6. Longwood 9.8
NCAA • Strikeouts Per 9 Inn.
Rank K/9
16. Zach Potojecki 12.07
NCAA • Triples
Rank Triples
4. Antwaun Tucker 6
NCAA • Stolen Bases
Rank Steals
24. Sammy Miller 20
NCAA • Stolen Bases Per Game
Rank Steals Per Game
23. Sammy Miller .48
Scouting Norfolk State
•Picked to finish first in the Northern Division of the MEAC, the 2016 MEAC Northern Division champs return 14 letter winners, including six starters from a team that the runner-up in the 2016 MEAC tournament.
Longwood swept Norfolk State in 2016, but Norfolk State took last Wednesday's meeting, 15-13.
•Junior infielder and right-handed pitcher Alex Mauricio leads the team, third in the MEAC with a .370 batting average. Mauricio leads the conference with a .559 slugging percentage and has 15 doubles, 19 total extra-base hits.
•On the mound Maurico has a 3.28 ERA, third-best among starters on the team that leads the MEAC with a 3.55 staff ERA. Mauricio, and his older brother, Jonathan, were each selected to the All-MEAC First Team in the preseason poll.
•Preseason second team selection Devin Hemmerich was named the May 1 MEAC Pitcher of the Week, his fifth of the season, as well as being named the Collegiate Baseball News National Player of the Week for the second time this season after finishing one strike shy of a no-hitter in his complete game shutout of Delaware State. Hemmerich is tied for third in the NCAA with nine wins (9-2) and six complete games. Hemmerich is fourth in the country with 111 strikeouts, and is 16th in the country with a 1.74 ERA.
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