Longwood University Athletics

Games 37-39: Longwood (11-25, 4-18 Big South) vs. Radford (18-15, 12-11 Big South)
Date & Time	Game 1: April 30, 2021 • 5 p.m. Games 2 & 3: May 1, 2021 • 1 p.m. (DH)
Location	Farmville, Va. (Buddy Bolding Stadium)
Series Notes	Longwood (PDF) | Radford | Big South
Statistics	Longwood (HTML) | Radford | Big South
Live Stats	Longwood Live Stats
Radio	Game 1: WVHL
TV/Video	Game 1: ESPN+ Game 2: ESPN+ Game 3: ESPN+
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodBase

Lancer Leadoff

• Longwood hosts Radford for the second time this season, this time for a three-game weekend series. The two sides have already played a pair of midweek games, with each side hosting one.
• Radford is one of two opponents that Longwood will face five times this season. The Lancers also face High Point five times, with four coming in Farmville.
• The Lancers are wrapping up a stretch that has them playing 12 of 15 at home.
• Despite having two separate weekend series postponed this season, Longwood has played 36 games this season, tied for first in the Big South.
• The Longwood offense ranks third in the Big South in hits (309) and RBI (176) and fourth in home runs (22).
• Eliot Dix has been one of the top hitters in the Big South, ranking in the top 10 in slugging percentage (.523-10th) and RBI (32-7th).
• Hunter Gilliam is tied for the league lead with four triples after hitting one at USC Upstate.
• Longwood's pitching staff is second in the Big South in strikeouts with 295 and strikeouts looking with 82. The staff has finished in the top three of the league four times in head coach Ryan Mau's six prior seasons at the helm.

Last Time Out

• Ricky Jimenez had a pair of RBI singles and Longwood battled back in the series finale to tie the score at three in the fifth inning at USC Upstate. The short-handed Lancers ran out of steam though, and Upstate used a five-run sixth inning to break the tie and pull away before winning 13-3.

By The Numbers

• Longwood is third in the Big South with 309 base hits. The team has posted a season-high 15 hits twice. The first came against NC Central in a 22-14 win, while the second came in a 7-6 loss to Presbyterian.
• In the 14 games that Longwood has had at least 10 hits, the team has gone 9-5. 
• Longwood has posted at least 10 hits in six of their past nine games.
• The Lancers hold a .255 batting average.
• Longwood's offense tied for third in the Big South with 150 hits in 2020 while ranking fourth in hits per game with 8.8. The team was also third in RBI with 77.
• The Lancers hold a .354 on-base percentage through 36 games, sixth in the Big South.
• As a team, Longwood is fifth in the Big South with 134 walks drawn. In addition, the team is third in the league after being hit by a pitch 56 times.
• Michael Peterson has drawn a team-best 15 walks. He and Cullan Wadsworth also lead the team after being hit by seven pitches apiece.
• The Lancers are fifth in the Big South with 195 runs scored. Cullan Wadsworth, Hayden Harris, Jack Schnell, Hunter Gilliam, Ricky Jimenez and Eliot Dix lead the way.
• Wadsworth sits just outside the top 10 in the league with 25 runs. Harris has added 23 runs whiel Schnell has added 21 runs. The trio are the three players with at least 20 runs scored.
• Jimenez, Gilliam and Dix all have scored 19 times.
• In April, Longwood has hit 11 home runs, which represents half of the team's season total of 22.
• The team's 22 home runs rank fourth in the Big South. Eleven players have hit a homer for the Lancers.
• Eliot Dix leads the team with five home runs, and Cullan Wadsworth and Ricky Jimenez have each hit four homers.
• Seven players have hit their first Division I collegiate homers this year for Longwood, with Hayden Harris, James Nelson, Ricky Jimenez, Dillon Champagne, Keondre Shelton and Aiden Tierney all hitting home runs.
• The team hit a season-high three home runs against Norfolk State after hitting two against Gardner-Webb, the first time in 2021 Longwood has hit multiple home runs in back-to-back games.
• Dix's five home runs lead Longwood, and he is part of a tie for ninth in the Big South.
• Cullan Wadsworth had his first multi-homer game of his Longwood career against Norfolk State, swatting a two-run and a three-run bomb. He has four on the season.
• Ricky Jimenez became the third Lancer with a multi-homer game this season, smashing two home runs on April 17 in game one against Presbyterian.
• Longwood is tied for fourth in the Big South with nine triples while also stealing 26 bases.
• Michael Peterson leads the way on the bases for Longwood, posting a team-best six stolen bases on eight attempts. Nate Blakeney is right behind him, going 4-5 on stolen base attempts.
• Ten different players have stolen a base for Longwood.
• Meanwhile, Hunter Gilliam has cranked four triples to lead Longwood and tie for the lead in the Big South. The big first baseman hit triples in back-to-back games against Norfolk State on March 9 and March 14 (game one) in addition to a triple on opening day at The Citadel and one at USC Upstate on April 23.
• Andrew Gorham is tied for ninth in the league with two triples. Drayven Kowalski, Michael Dolberry and Cullan Wadsworth have the other triples for the Lancers.
• As a team, Longwood is second in the Big South in strikeouts (295) and strikeouts looking (82) while also ranking third in strikeouts per nine innings (8.69) to continue a trend under head coach Ryan Mau. The Lancers have ranked in the top three of the Big South in strikeouts four times in the previous six seasons
• Longwood topped the Big South in strikeouts in per nine innings in 2020 while finishing second in total strikeouts
• The Lancers have consistently ranked near the top of the Big South in strikeouts. In 2019, the Lancers were fourth with 411 K's. In 2018, the Lancers were third with 468 K's. In 2017, Longwood led the Big South with 511 punchouts in 2017, breaking the school's D-I record of 440.  That season, Longwood was also third in the nation with 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings. The Lancers were fifth in the Big South in 2016 with 404 K's and third in 2015 with 440 K's.
• Eliot Dix has mashed in the middle of the lineup for Longwood in 2021. The freshman is just outside top 10 in the Big South in batting average (.339) while in the top 10 in slugging percentage (.551-10th) and RBI (31-7th).
• Dix had a huge four-game series against Presbyterian on 4/16-17 where he hit .412 (7-17) while driving in eight runs. Of his eight RBI, five came with two outs on the board. He had three multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games.

Scouting Radford

• Longwood and Radford meet for their only weekend series of 2021, but the two sides have played twice this spring.
• Radford won both prior matchups, taking the first meeting at Radford 11-3 before winning the second midweek contest in Farmville 16-5 on April 20.
• After taking down Longwood, Radford went back home and took two of three against High Point over the weekend. The Highlanders split a doubleheader on Friday, winning the first game 11-3 before falling 7-5 in game two. Radford won the series finale 4-3. Prior to High Point, Radford took two of three against Winthrop before coming to Farmville.
• The Highlanders sit fifth in the Big South standings behind fourth-place Presbyterian. The series between the two sides was postponed earlier this spring.
• Radford sits third in the Big South with 199 runs scored this season. The Highlanders have drawn a league-high 160 walks while stealing 49 bases, which ranks second in the Big South. Ten players have driven in at least 10 runs.
• The pitching staff ranks second in the Big South with a 4.25 ERA while holding opponents to a .259 batting average against.
• Dac Archer has a team-best .326 batting average in 89 at bats. He has driven in 18 runs. Meanwhile, Sean Cheely has a team-best three triples with a .296 batting average to go with 20 RBI. He is second on the team with three homers and a team-best 11 doubles. David Bryant has hit a team-high five homers and is tied for the team lead with 25 walks while hitting .295. Straton Podaras has also drawn 25 walks.
• On the pitching staff, Greg Duncan (5-0, 3.67 ERA) and Ryan Bywaters (2-3, 4.75 ERA) have started a team-best nine games. Duncan leads the team with five wins while striking out 41 batters in 54.0 innings. Bywaters leads the team with 42 strikeouts in 47.1 innings of work. Vinnie Venturi (1-4, 5.92 ERA) has started seven times in nine appearances and has struck out 39 batters in 38.0 innings of work. Hunter Williams (2-2, 4.34 ERA) has also started six times, including twice against Longwood. He won both games against the Lancers in the two midweek contests.
• Out of the bullpen, Alex Perkins (2-1, 2.05 ERA, 5 SV) has made a team-high 13 appearances while Bruce Hudson (3-2, 3.62 ERA) has made 12 appearances. Perkins has struck out 30 in 26.1 innings while only giving up seven runs on 21 hits and 11 walks. Hudson has fanned 30 in 27.1 innings while giving up 13 runs on 26 hits and 14 walks.
• Derek Domecq (1-0, 4.80 ERA) has also made 11 appearances out of the bullpen, totaling nine strikeouts in 15.0 innings. Ty Burton (0-1, 3.92 ERA) has made 10 appearances.

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