Longwood University Athletics

Games 43-44: Longwood (19-20, 8-4 Big South) vs. No. 24 James Madison (22-1, 11-1 Colonial Athletic)
Dates & Times	Game 1 vs. No. 24 James Madison: April 21 • 3 p.m. Game 2 vs. No. 24 James Madison: April 21 • 5 p.m.
Location	Farmville, Va. • Lancer Field
Game Notes	Longwood | James Madison | Big South
Statistics	Longwood | James Madison | Big South
Video / Live Stats	Game 1 vs. James Madison: ESPN+ | Live Stats Game 2 vs. James Madison: ESPN+ | Live Stats

The First Pitch
•    In their first home game since April 3, Longwood returns to Lancer field Wednesday afternoon to host No. 24 James Madison in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
•    The Dukes will be the fifth top-25 team Longwood has faced this season, joining a list that has included No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Duke, No. 16 Georgia and No. 18 South Carolina. 
•    Including Wednesday's doubleheader against the Dukes, Longwood will play 11 total games against teams who have either been ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 or received votes in every poll.
•    Longwood has one top-25 win to its credit this season, a 3-2 win at Georgia on Feb. 20 that was the program's first victory under first-year head coach Dr. Megan Brown.
•    The Lancers had previous played 11 consecutive road games from April 7-18 but will end the regular season by playing eight of their final 10 contests at home.
•    The game will also be a homecoming for James Madison assistant coach Libby Morris, who was an All-Big South pitcher and the 2015 Big South Tournament MVP during her four-year career as a Lancer. Morris is in her fourth season as an assistant coach at James Madison.
•    Longwood senior Sydney Backstrom was named Big South Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time this Monday after going 4-0 with a 1.25 ERA and a perfect game. Her four Big South awards are the most by a Lancer in a single season.

Last Time Out
•    Sydney Backstrom threw a perfect game and earned a pair of victories to lead Longwood to a series win against Big South rival Presbyterian in Clinton, S.C. Longwood won the opener 7-0 behind Backstrom's gem and then avenged a 3-0 game-two loss with a 4-1 win in game three, also behind Backstrom.
•    Mason Basdikis hit .500 in the series with a team-high four RBI and four steals. Sydney Jacobsen and Mallory Odell also drove in a pair of runs.
•    Backstrom's 7-inning perfect game in game one was the first perfect game of Longwood's Division I era.

By The Numbers
•    Longwood ace Sydney Backstrom has allowed just one hit and zero earned runs over her past 14.0 innings, including a perfect game against Presbyterian on April 17 and a one-hitter against the Blue Hose in a series-clinching follow-up on April 18. Backstrom has retired 42 of the past 44 batters she has faced.
•    Backstrom has thrown complete games in nine consecutive starts, going 6-3 with a 2.26 ERA in that span. She has struck out 59 batters and walked just 11 during that 62.0-inning tear.
•    Backstrom has not walked a batter in 28.0 consecutive innings while striking out 31 during that span. 
•    Longwood is 17-8 since March 10 after starting the season 4-13. The Lancers won 11 straight from March 10-28 and have won six of their past nine entering Wednesday's doubleheader against James Madison.
•    Sophomore CF Lauren Taylor has batted .333 (4-of-12) in six games against top-25 teams this season with a double, home run, three RBI and thre runs. She boasts a .429 on base percentage and a .667 slugging clip in thoe games. 
•    Longwood is 6-1 in one-run games this season and has yet to lose a game when leading after the sixth inning. 
•    Of two-hitter Sydney Jacobsen's 26 RBI this season, 12 have come with two outs. She is hitting .306 (11-for-36) in two-out situations.
•    Jacobsen ranks tied for the Big South lead with 19 extra-base hits, matching in league RBI leader Ansley Gilreath of Winthrop. Jacobsen leads the conference with 11 doubles, ranks third with two triples and is tied for ninth with five home runs.
•    Longwood is on pace to steal the second-most bases in school history with 98 stolen bases and 2.29 per game. That trails only the 1999 Lancers, who swiped 136 at 2.57 per game.
•    Four Lancers have amassed double-digit steals this season, including junior Mason Basdikis, who is 25-for-25. Basdikis has stolen 33 consecutive bases without being caught and ranks No. 1 in the nation in steals by a player who has yet to be caught stealing this season.
•    Both Lauren Taylor and Destiny Martinez have swiped 14 bases, while Lauren Fox has 11. Basdikis, Taylor and Martinez all rank among the Big South's top 10 in steals. 
•    All-Big South RHP Sydney Backstrom leads the nation with 144.2 innings pitched and is among the country's top three with 17 complete games and 23 starts. 
•    Backstrom has thrown six consecutive complete games and is 3-3 with a 2.73 ERA in that span.

Quotable
"It's funny because in 2019 I had a similar game going where I was one walk away from a perfect game, but nobody knew because nobody talked about it. I had a no-hitter, and I walked back to the dugout and they were just like, 'Good game.' I thought, is nobody going to talk about it? So I thought the same thing was going on Saturday, but then I caught the last ball and the entire dugout was screaming."
 — Longwood senior Sydney Backstrom on her team's celebration of her perfect game against Presbyterian this past Saturday

Series History
•    Longwood and James Madison meet for the 14th and 15th times in series history Wednesday in Farmville.
•    James Madison holds a slim 7-6 lead in the all-time series, which began  in 2005 during Longwood's first year of a three-year transition period to the Division I level. 
•    Six of the games in the series have been decided by two or fewer runs, while two of those went to extra innings. 
•    Longwood's last win was a 7-4 triumph in Honolulu on March 8, 2018, a game in which a then-freshman Sydney Backstrom started and threw the first 3.1 innings.
•    Backstrom has made three career appearances against the Dukes, including two starts. 
•    Senior Leah Powell also has a home run in the series, which was a solo shot on March 20, 2019.

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