Longwood University Athletics

Games 34-36: Longwood (15-18, 6-3 Big South) at UNCG (17-11, 3-3 SoCon)
Dates & Times	Game 1 at UNCG: April 9 • 2 p.m. Game 2 at UNCG: April 9 • 4 p.m. Game 3 at UNCG: April 10 • 12 p.m.
Location	Greensboro, N.C. • UNCG Softball Stadium
Game Notes	Longwood | UNCG | Big South
Statistics	Longwood | UNCG | Big South
Video / Live Stats	Game 1 at UNCG: ESPN+ | Live Stats Game 2 at UNCG: ESPN+ | Live Stats Game 3 at UNCG: ESPN+ | Live Stats

The First Pitch
•    Continuing a five-game break from Big South play, Longwood will face Southern Conference preseason favorite UNCG in a three-game series Friday and Saturday in Greensboro.
•    The schedule for the series shifted to a Friday doubleheader at 2 p.m. and a single game Saturday at noon due to expected inclement weather.
•    UNCG will be the latest top-tier foe in a non-conference gauntlet for the Lancers, who have already faced four top-25 teams and 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. The Lancers have faced No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Duke, No. 16 Georgia and No. 18 South Carolina.
•    The Lancers have one top-25 win to their credit this season, a 3-2 road victory at No. 16 Georgia on Feb. 20. That win was the program's first under first-year head coach Dr. Megan Brown and came in the Lancers' second game of the year.
•    Longwood's 11-game win streak from March 10-28 was the third longest in program history, trailing  only the 12-game tear by the 2016 Lancers and a 13-game streak by the 2015 squad.
•    The Lancers have won six of their past eight games on the road, including back-to-back three-game sweeps over Big South foes Gardner-Webb and Winthrop. Longwood's only losses during that span came against No. 15 Virginia Tech.
•    UNCG will be the second SoCon opponent Longwood has faced this season. The Lancers also played Western Carolina in a single game at the First Pitch Classic in Charlotte, N.C., on Feb. 28.

Last Time Out
•    A pitcher's duel between Longwood ace Sydney Backstrom and one of the ACC's best in Keely Rochard made for a nail-biter of a 2-0 Virginia Tech win in the opener, but No. 25 Virginia Tech flexed its top-25 prowess in game two with an 11-6 victory to sweep a Wednesday doubleheader at Hokie Softball Park.
•    Rochard threw a two-hit shutout in the opener to deal Backstrom a hard-luck loss before the Hokies built an 11-1 lead and held off a late Longwood rally in game two.
•    Sydney Jacobsen and Lauren Taylor both homered for Longwood in game two.

By The Numbers
•    Sixteen of Longwood's 19 home runs have come in the past 16 games. Those bulk of those bombs have come from four players, with Lauren Taylor hitting five, Alexis Wayland four and Nia Green and Sydney Jacobsen with three apiece. Madison Blair also has one homer during that span. 
•    Longwood is among the best fielding teams in the Big South, posting a .963 fielding percentage that is the third highest in the conference. 
•    Anchoring the Lancers in the field is the graduate student tandem of shortstop Kasey Carr and second baseman Destiny Martinez, who have combined for a .965 fielding percentage on the season.  Martinez has committed just one error in her past 20 games, while Carr has committed just two faults in her 23 games this season.
•    The Lancers have also turned 10 double plays, tied with USC Upstate for the most in the league. 
•    Longwood has been equally as effective controlling the running game, ranking third in the Big South with a .824 stolen base against percentage. Catcher Alexis Wayland has caught eight eight runners stealing this season, tied for third in the Big South.
•    Freshman Lauren Fox has been among the Big South's best table-setters this season with a .290 average, a .353 on base percentage and 11 steals in 12 attempts. She is batting .529 (9-of-17) when leading off an inning this year while also hitting .308 (8-of-26) with runners in scoring position.
•    Junior UT Sydney Jacobsen ranks second in the Big South with 14 extra-base hits, trailing only league RBI leader Ansley Gilreath of Winthrop, who has 17. Jacobsen is tied for the league lead with seven doubles, ranks third with two triples and is tied for seventh with five home runs — all of which lead Longwood this season.
•    All-Big South RHP Sydney Backstrom has been named Big South Pitcher of the Week three times, tied for the most by a Lancer in a single season.
•    Backstrom ranks among the NCAA's top 10 in innings pitched (123.2), complete games (14) and starts (19). She has thrown 60.0 percent of Longwood's innings.

Quotable
"I was pleased to see the grit and fight we showed. We made good adjustments and are on the road to where we need to be at this time of year."
 — Longwood head coach Dr. Megan Brown after Wednesday's doubleheader loss to No. 15 Virginia Tech

Series History
•    Longwood and UNCG renew a longstanding series this Friday and Saturday with a three-game set in Greensboro, N.C. The Spartans lead the all-time series 23-14.
•    The teams first met in 1985, which was UNCG's first year of softball and only the fifth year of existence for the Lancer program. They have faced each other as Division II and Division I counterparts during the series' 36-year history.
•    Both teams have multiple Big South Championships to their credit, with the Spartans winning four straight titles from 1994-97 before moving to the Southern Conference, and Longwood winning five of the past seven Big South titles since joining the conference in 2013. 
•    Longwood junior Alexis Wayland went 3-for-8 with a home run in two games against UNCG in 2019.

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