FARMVILLE, Va. – Despite 8.1 innings on the mound from Longwood starting pitcher Cody Boydstun, timely hitting and an outing of 8.0 combined scoreless innings from normal weekend starters Bradley Hallman, Langston Wilson, and Landon Mitchell propelled Gardner-Webb to a 5-1 series-opening victory Saturday at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
After a rain-altered schedule forced a single game Saturday evening, Boydstun gave fourth-year head coach Ryan Mau the innings needed to pull off a win, but it was the Runnin' Bulldogs who used three early runs and two-more in the ninth to keep the Lancer rally at bay.
 
Boydstun (2-7) was hit with the loss, but battled throughout the game with 8.1 innings pitched, holding Gardner-Webb to five runs on eight hits and six walks with three strikeouts. Boydstun surrendered three runs in the first four innings before settling in to toss four consecutive scoreless frames, including a perfect frame in a three-pitch eighth inning.
 
"Cody showed a lot of guts and gave us everything he had today," Mau said. "I'm really proud of his effort, but we just weren't able to get him much support."
 
Longwood (16-35, 8-17 Big South) saw multiple opportunities to score, but couldn't scratch across a run until the final frame, leaving a total of eight men on base.
 
"Offensively we didn't get enough going," Mau said. "We're going to have to come out tomorrow and find a way to win two."
 
Despite the loss, the Lancers enter Sunday in control of their path to the conference tournament thanks to High Point sweeping the series against Presbyterian. Longwood clinches the final spot in the Big South tournament with one win in Sunday's doubleheader with Gardner-Webb.
 
Gardner-Webb (28-24, 13-12 Big South) used the trio of Hallman, Wilson, and Mitchell to keep the Lancer bats quiet throughout the afternoon as the early damage proved to be enough.
 
Mitchell (4-4) received the win as he got Gardner-Webb through the fifth inning with a 3-0 lead in tact and finished with 3.1 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts and one baserunner allowed on a single in the seventh inning.
 
At the plate Gardner-Webb received two-hit days from Luke Kaesmeyer and Ben LaSpaluto, who each picked up extra-base hits in the game.
 
At the dish for Longwood sophomore catcher Joey Mendez and Eric Crain each reached base multiple times to pace the Lancer offense.
 
Mendez finished 1-for-1 with three walks drawn, setting a career high in free passes for the backstop. Mendez picked up the lone hit off of Gardner-Webb's Mitchell, hitting a sharp single back to the mound that bounded off of Mitchell in the home half of the seventh.
 
Crain put together a 2-for-3 day, earning his second two-hit day in as many games. The junior outfielder collected a pair of sharply hit singles in the game, also drawing a third-inning walk. Crain is 5-for-11 in the last three games and has scored three runs with a pair of RBI, one home run, and one double in that stretch.
 
Nate Blakeney also picked up a hit, going 1-for-4 in the loss to extend his hitting streak to six games, while senior first baseman Justin Mitchell was hit by pitch in the fifth to extend his reached base streak to a career-best 23 games, the longest such streak by a Lancer in 2018.
 
The series concludes Sunday in a doubleheader at 12 p.m. from Buddy Bolding Stadium. Before first pitch, the Lancers will recognize their seven seniors – Michael Catlin, Andrew Corbitt, Mac McCafferty, Sammy Miller, Mitchell, Zach Potojecki and Ryan Shull – in their final appearance in Farmville donning the Lancer blue and white.
 
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