Longwood University Athletics

FARMVILLE, Va. - Longwood is looking to pick things back up after falling to the #5 Virginia Tech Hokie in back-to-back games. The team welcomes their first Big South series this weekend against North Carolina A&T. The team is 9-18 overall and 3-3 in the conference. 

Longwood sits with a RIP/NET Rank of 26, with the closest conference competitor coming in with a rank of 127. Facing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, Longwood looks to step up the speed of play as Big South series begin to come up on the schedule. 

LONGWOOD GAME NOTES 
LONGWOOD LIVE STATS 
G1 (Sat): ESPN+
G2 (Sat): ESPN+
G3 (Sun): ESPN+  

The First Pitch:

• The Lancers (9-18), most recently played the #5 Virginia Tech Hokies, the ninth opponent that is either in the NFCA Top 25 or receiving votes and their eighth opponent in the top 50 of the RPI.
• Longwood's RPI ranking right now is 26th in the country - the closest Big South team on the RPI chart is Campbell (127).
• Sydney Backstrom continues to be the ace for the Lancers in the circle. Backstrom has pitched 99.2 innings on the year with 102 strikeouts. The b/avg against Backstrom sits at .194, and she has earned two shutouts. She earned one save this weekend in the second win over Charleston Southern.
• Senior Alexis Wayland continues to have the highest slg% on Longwood with .429 and a b/avg of .247. Wayland has 14 RBI's and three home runs on the year.
• Sydney Guess' bat heated up against Charleston Southern earning three starts at DP, with a b/avg of .270 on the year. Guess had the game winning RBI in the 10th inning of game two. Guess sits with a season slug% of .297. She has six RBI's and three runs in her 19 appearances so far in 2022.
• Er'ron Burton grabbed her first start and victory last weekend against Charleston Southern, and Jerzie Nutile made her Longwood debut against the #5 Hokies in game two of the doubleheader.
• Longwood has won five of the past eight Big South Championship tournaments since joining the conference in 2013 (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019).

 
By the Numbers:

• Sydney Backstrom is one of several returning arms for the Lancers, and was also picked as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in the conference. Backstrom earned her first Big South Pitcher of the Week honor in week two of the 2022 season after grabbing two wins over #25 Wichita State and Power 5 Illinois.
• Er'ron Burton got her second start in her first season with the Lancers. She now has 20 strikeouts, with 23.0 innings pitched and an ERA of 3.65. Burton's b/avg against her in .302 - second best for Longwood. Burton pitched nine innings in the 10 inning win for Longwood against Charleston Southern last weekend.
• Alexis Wayland has had a stellar start to her senior year. She's grabbed 14 RBI's, three home runs, three doubles, and a triple so far from the plate. Wayland has started behind the plate in every game this season earning a .961 fielding percent. Wayland sits with a .247 b/avg and a .429 slg% - best on the Lancers as right now on the year.
• Sydney Guess charted a great weekend from DP for the Lancers. Grabbing three starts and a game winning RBI in game two against Charleston Southern. Guess now has a .270 batting average and .297 slug% on the year.
• Wayland leads the team in RBI's with 14, followed by senior Lauren Taylor. Taylor has 10 RBI's, two home runs, and two doubles from the plate. She has also grabbed 25 starts on the year.  
• With 130 steals last season, Longwood is only the second team in program history to surpass the century mark in that category. Only the 1999 Lancer squad stole more bases in the program's history, swiping 136 in 53 games. So far on the season Longwood has added 43 stolen bases.

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