The First Pitch:
• Longwood plays its first two road games during midweek tests at No. 19 Virginia and No. 12 North Carolina on back-to-back days.
• The Lancers then host Delaware State the following weekend, with the two sides last playing in 2006. Longwood is 2-1 all time against the Hornets.
• Longwood plays three teams in the top 25 in the first two weeks of the season, with a trip to No. 21 N.C. State coming up on Wednesday, Feb. 28.
• Longwood has two road trips that span seven or more games. The first opens with the trip to and includes games at Liberty, Bethune-Cookman and Charleston Southern.
•
Eliot Dix is Longwood's top hitter returning after earning All-Big South Second Team honors a season ago despite battling an injury.
• Four teams will make the Big South Tournament in June, down from six a season ago.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood lost a trio of heartbreakers to Mount St. Mary's to open the season.
• On opening day, one big inning proved to be the difference, as Mount St. Mary's used a six-run sixth inning that was extended due a Lancer error to win 13-9.
• On the second day, it was a six-run ninth inning that saw Mount St. Mary's hit five straight two-out singles to take the lead and win 8-5.
• In the series finale, a pair of solo homers and three unearned runs were enough to edge a Longwood side that made good contact but couldn't get the timely hits.
•
Eliot Dix,
Gregory Ryan and
Hayden Harris all hit home runs for the Lancers on opening weekend.
• Dix and Ryan went back-to-back on opening day to tie the game up at eight all after six innings. The two were the first to go back-to-back for the Lancers since
Jack Schnell and
Hunter Gilliam did it a season ago.
Around The Bases:
• Longwood was picked to finish sixth in the Big South Preseason Poll after finishing eighth in the final standings in 2022.
• Through opening weekend, the Lancers were second in the Big South in walks drawn with 23, two behind Campbell.
• Longwood is third in home runs with three through three games.
• The Lancer pitching staff is third in the Big South in strikeouts with 32.
•
Eliot Dix and
Gregory Ryan are both in the top 10 in the league in RBI. Dix sits tied for third with five. Ryan is tied for seventh with four.
• On the mound,
Ryan Miller is tied for third in the Big South with eight strikeouts. He struck out eight in six scoreless innings in his Lancer debut.
•
Andrew Melnyk struck out half the batters he faced in his first appearance of the 2023 season. The lefthander struck out six in 3.1 innings of work on Sunday, Feb. 19.
• In Head Coach
Chad Oxendine's first season last year, the Lancers posted 20 wins for the first time since 2016.
• In addition, the team had its best conference winning percentage (.471, 10-14)) since that 2016 season saw the Lancers go 14-10 in Big South play.
• The Lancers were fourth in the Big South in stolen bases last year, swiping 79 as a team.
• The offense posted the fifth-best on-base percentage in the Big South as well (0.363).
• Longwood did so in part thanks to drawing the fifth-most walks in the Big South (234).
• The offense also finished fifth in the Big South in runs scored (336).
•
Eliot Dix's .341 batting average ranked fourth-best in the Big South, and his .424 on-base percentage was good for 13th-best.
•
Michael Dolberry stole 17 bases and was tied for ninth most in the Big South. He was 17-20 on stolen base attempts on the season.
•
Michael Tolson tied for fifth in the Big South with four saves as Longwood's closer a season ago.
#GoWood #HorsePower
