FARMVILLE, Va. – Justin Mitchell picked up a pair of hits to extend his hitting streak to eight games as he, Joey Mendez, and Eric Crain enjoyed solid offensive days, but it wasn't enough as High Point took game two of the series, 8-2, Saturday at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
With the loss Longwood (6-11, 1-1 Big South) and High Point (9-9, 1-1 Big South) will play a rubber match Sunday to determine which team takes the opening series of Big South play.
 
Mitchell led the Lancers, reaching three times, in a 2-for-3 game with a walk and a double, which extended Longwood's longest active hitting streak. Mendez went 2-for-4 with a double and both scored on Crain's two-run single in the home half of the fourth inning.
 
"I thought Mitchell had a really good day," Longwood head coach Ryan Mau said. "It's great to see him put together consecutive games now with quality at-bats. I really like how he's seeing the ball right now. Joey Mendez did a great job of battling with two strikes and had a lot of success there. The middle of our lineup is starting to come together and we're going to need a little more production from the guys around them. We're going to need a full staff effort tomorrow to get this done."
 
While Mitchell and Mendez each collected two-hit games and Crain had two RBI, Longwood wasn't able to manage consistent offense against High Point starter Andrew Gottfried.
 
"I thought he was tough tonight and it took us a while to make an adjustment and we let him settle in," Mau said. "I thought he was really good tonight."
 
Gottfried (2-2) tossed a career-high 8.1 innings and held Longwood to two runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts in the game.
 
Cody Boydstun (1-3) was hit with the loss for Longwood. Battling in the game despite being under the weather, Boydstun allowed seven runs, five earned, in 5.2 innings with nine hits allowed and two walks with five strikeouts Saturday.
 
"I thought Cody did a great job getting ahead and getting to advantage counts, but unfortunately he made too many mistakes in those advantage counts and they made us pay," Mau said.
 
Out of the bullpen for the Lancers multiple pitchers made solid impacts with Jon Peterson and Todd Moxey combining to pitch 2.1 scoreless innings as Moxey, a freshman, tossed a spotless eighth inning and struck out a pair of batters.
 
"I was really impressed by the way Moxey threw the baseball today," Mau said.
 
After Boydstun left the game with two outs in the sixth, freshman Tommy Green entered and failed to record an out with one hit and one walk allowed, but Peterson was able to end the inning before further damage could be done.

"We need a better performance from Tommy in that situation there," Mau said. "He needs to learn to handle that better because he's a guy we're counting on."
 
High Point started the scoring with a three-run rally in the fourth inning, taking advantage of an error by the Lancers. Carson Jackson and Hunter Lee each singled to start the frame, Jackson moving to third on an executed hit-and-run play. With runners on the corners and no outs, Blake Shunk put down a bunt back to the mound, which Boydstun mishandled, trying to collect and throw to the plate in one motion, allowing the runner from third to score.
 
The fourth inning continued for High Point with Jordan Sergent doubling to right field, bringing in a second run and moving Shunk to third. The next batter, J.J. Woodard, came up with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to plate Shunk and up the High Point advantage to 3-0.
 
Longwood bounced right back in the home half of the fourth. With the bases clear and one out, Mitchell singled to give Longwood its first hit of the game. Mendez followed with a hard hit ball off the bag at third base that allowed Mitchell to make it to third and Mendez to cruise into second base with a double. Two batters later with two on and two down, Crain singled through the left side, bringing in both runners and cutting Longwood's deficit to 3-2.
 
"We call that an answer-back inning," Mau said. "The guys did a good job. High Point stole the momentum there with that big inning, we mishandled a safety squeeze that I thought we had a shot at, but just couldn't make the play. But it was a great job offensively by firing back and getting momentum back with Crain's big two-out single."
 
The Lancers were unable to score again as High Point continued to score with one in the fifth and three more in the sixth, scoring the final run of the game in the top of the ninth.
 
The series concludes Sunday with the rubber match. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
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