Leading Off
•Longwood enters the week off a 1-2 weekend at USC Upstate and a loss to N.C. Central. Longwood takes on N.C. Central Tuesday and continues its stay in Durham, N.C., with a game at Duke Wednesday.
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Eric Harp was named Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week Monday following a strong weekend at USC Upstate, tossing 4.0 scoreless innings, including 3.2 perfect innings and a career-high nine strikeouts Sunday.
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Jawan McAllister and
Nate Blakeney are tied for the team lead wit nine hits each. Blakeney is the team leader with four RBI, two doubles, and 11 total bases.
•Lead-off man
Sammy Miller leads the team in on-base percentage with a .372 OBP with nine walks drawn and has been hit by pitch twice.
•Along with Harp, who has posted a 2.25 ERA, freshman
Tyler Knapp has put forth the second-best ERA with a 2.70 ERA.
Last Time Out
•Longwood took the final game of the three-game weekend series at USC Upstate, 3-1 behind 5.1 innings with one unearned runs allowed by starter
Michael Catlin and 3.2 perfect innings and nine strikeouts by
Eric Harp.
Sammy Miller brought in the winning run on a 2-run single in the 7th.
By The Numbers
•Junior right-handed relief pitcher Eric Harp picked up his first-career Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week award for his dominance at USC Upstate on March 7.
•Harp, a 6-foot-9 relief ace, tossed 4.0 shutout innings with one hit and one walk with 11 strikeouts. In the final game of the series Harp tossed 3.2 perfect innings, striking out nine of 11 batters faced.
•Harp leads the team with a 2.25 ERA and has a team-best 2.75 strikeout to walk ratio. His 15 strikeouts are the most of any non-starter.
•In just his second career start junior right-hander Cody Boydstun put together a gem, tossing 7.2 innings against Niagara on February 24. Boydstun struck out eight batters with two earned runs allowed, setting career highs in punchouts and innings pitched.
•Longwood won via walk-off for the first time in 2018 when Nate Blakeney plated pinch-runner Scott Carter on the first pitch with the bases loaded in the second game of a doubleheader against Niagara on February 24.
•The Lancers had a pair of walk-off wins in 2017. Michael Osinski ripped a walk-off home run against Winthrop in the first game of a doubleheader on April 21, 2017.
•Blakeney provided his first-career walkoff in the first game of a doubleheader vs. Lehigh on May 6, 2018.
•Sophomore shortstop Antwaun Tucker picked up his eighth career triple against Niagara on February 24. His eight triples have him inside the top 10 for triples in a career at Longwood, tied for eighth place with three others.
•Tucker led the Big South and finished seventh in the NCAA in 2017 with seven triples.
•The seven triples were the second most in a single season in program history and the most in the Division I era.
•Eric Harp picked up the Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week award on March 5, becoming the ninth Lancer to win a weekly award.
Big South Player of the Week
Date Player
3/10/14 Alex Owens
4/27/15 Kyri Washington
Big South Pitcher of the Week
Date Player
3/10/14 Aaron Myers
3/7/16 Cody Boydstun
3/20/17 Cody Wager
4/17/18 Cody Wager
Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week
Date Player
3/5/18 Eric Harp
Big South Freshman of the Week
Date Player
4/24/17 Antwaun Tucker
5/15/17 Antwaun Tucker
Scouting N.C. Central
•N.C. Central swept Iona over the weekend by a combined 39-15 score. N.C. Central is 8-2 at home through the first three weeks of the season.
•Corey Joyce leads N.C. Central with a .455 batting average, four homers, and five doubles. His 13 RBI are fourth on the team behind Andrew Valichka (16), Carter Williams (15) and Zach Michalski (14).
•N.C. Central has six .300 hitters in Joyce (.455), Timmy Fischvogt (.407), Michalski (.341), Williams (.320), Dominic Cuevas (.316), and Valichka (.313).
•The Eagles have four pitchers with sub-4.00 ERAs in Austin Vernon (1.80), Chris Kernen (2.53), Jonathan Figueroa (2.65), and Justice Sampson (3.12).
Scouting Duke
•After dropping two out of three to then 15th-ranked Vanderbilt, Duke has rattled off eight straight wins, including a pair against N.C. Central.
•Duke is led in hitting by Michael Rothenberg, who paces the squad with a .407 average and two home runs. Joey Loperfideo (.375) and Zack Kone (.310) are also hitting above .300. Kone leads the team with 11 RBI, while Loperfido paces the team with 10 runs scored.
•Duke pitching has held opponents to 38 earned runs in 97.0 innings pitched, posting a staff ERA of 3.53. The team is led by Adam Laskey with a 2.65 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 17.0 innings pitched. Out of the bullpen Ethan DeCaster has not allowed a run in 8.2 innings across five outings with two saves.
#GoWood
