FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood's offense had started the 2021 season on a roll, piling up 44 runs through four games, but Oakland's pitching staff shut down the high-octane Lancer attack in the first game of the four-game set.
 
Travis Densmore twirled seven shutout innings, the bullpen added two more, and the Oakland (2-2) offense staked him to an early lead in the 12-0 win.
 
Against a Lancer offense that had put up a Big South-best 43 hits to start the season, Densmore (1-1) limited Longwood to four and didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning. He only gave up six total base runners before exiting the game. The left-handed sophomore struck out four and earned the win, his first in 2021.
 
Meanwhile, Cam Post led the charge for Oakland's office, notching three hits in his first three at bats. He drove in a career-high five of the team's first eight runs and scored three times, one of three players to score multiple runs for Oakland. Lorenzo Elion crossed home plate four times and Jared Miller scored twice.
 
The Grizzlies came out of the gate on the attack, striking for a pair of runs in the first inning behind Post's two-run double. He drove in two more runs with a triple in the second, part of a four-run inning that took advantage of defensive miscues for the Lancers to extend Oakland's lead to six. 

"I didn't think we were mentally ready to go today," said Longwood head coach Ryan Mau. "I thought Oakland came out, took advantage of some defensive miscues and put some big swings on it and jumped out to an early lead. We were slow to make adjustments offensively. We have to be better in a couple different facets for sure to stay in ball games."
 
For Longwood (3-2), Keondre Shelton, Hunter Gilliam and Nate Blakeney all registered multi-hit days at the plate. Shelton came on as a defensive subsitute at short and went 2-2 for his first two collegiate hits after knocking out singles in the seventh and ninth innings. 

On the mound, Dominick D'Ercole (1-1) was tagged with the loss. He surrendered eight runs, but only four were earned, on nine hits and three walks while striking out five in 3.1 innings. Lloyd Dominguez came on in relief of D'Ercole before giving way to Michael Tolson in the sixth inning. Tolson threw 3.1 scoreless and hitless relief innings while striking out three and walking two.

"Michael Tolson had a great outing and did an outstanding job in the back end there for us," Mau said. "It was good to see Keondre Shelton come off the bench, swing the bat the way he did and make the plays he did."

With inclement weather looming, game two of the series has been moved to Saturday. Saturday afternoon will now feature a double header with two seven inning contests, with the first pitch of game one set for 1 p.m. at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
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