The First Pitch:
• Longwood opens up their longest road trip of the season. The team plays eight straight away from home, beginning with a three-game series at Gardner-Webb.
• The series at Gardner-Webb was moved to a doubleheader Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m., followed by the series finale on Sunday at 2 p.m.
• The road trip includes the first two conference series of the season, with trips to Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville.
• Longwood has played nine road games this season, with games against Virginia, North Carolina, N.C. State, Liberty and College of Charleston in the midweek and a weekend series at Bethune-Cookman on the slate.
• Longwood wrapped up a four-game homestand 4-0, with a trio of wins over Iona followed by a tight win over Richmond.
• The Lancers are on the back end of a stretch that sees them play 15 of 19 on the. The two longest road stretches of the season, seven and eight games respectively, are sandwiched around a four-game homestand.
•
Ethan Barnes was named the Big South Freshman of the Week after posting a .400 on-base percentage last week. He scored three times, drove in three runs and stole five bases on five tries.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood wrapped up a four-game homestand with a 7-5 win over Richmond on Wednesday afternoon.
•
Hayden Harris and
Eliot Dix combined for nine base hits for the Lancers in the top two spots in the order.
• Longwood jumped out to an early lead, with
Drew Camp putting Longwood on the board in the first inning with a sac fly.
• The Lancers pushed the lead to 4-0 in the second. Harris cranked a two-run triple, and Dix followed with an RBI infield single.
• Richmond rallied to take the lead on a grand slam in the seventh inning, but the Lancers tied it right back up in the home half.
•
Ethan Barnes poked an RBI double to tie the game up in the bottom of the seventh.
•
Justin Looney executed a perfect suicide squeeze in the eighth to give Longwood the lead after Harris and Dix led off with back-to-back base hits, and Camp poked an RBI single to make it 7-5 a few batters later.
• Dix tied a career best with five base hits, and Harris set a career high with four base knocks.
Around The Bases:
• Longwood was picked to finish sixth in the Big South Preseason Poll after finishing eighth in the final standings in 2022.
• The Lancer offense is tied for fifth in the Big South in home runs with 17 on the season. Longwood has hit 17 in 19 games.
•
Gregory Ryan, Jr. leads Longwood with five home runs, and
James Nelson is second on the team with four.
• Ryan is tied for sixth in the BIg South in homers, and Nelson is tied for ninth.
• Nine different players have homered for the Lancers: Ryan, Nelson,
Eliot Dix,
Hayden Harris,
Dylan Wilkinson,
Luis DeLeon,
Drew Camp,
Drayven Kowalski and
Tanner Thomas.
•
Eliot Dix leads the Big South with 26 base hits, and he tied a career best with five base hits in a midweek matchup at Richmond. Dix went 5-5 at the plate, which also represented a team-best this season.
• He was the last player to post a five-hit day for the Lancers, doing so in February, 2022 against Maryland Eastern Shore.
• Dix is hitting .377 on the season, which is good for eighth in the Big South. He leads Longwood in hits and total bases, and he is second in RBI. He has also drawn eight walks while only striking out seven times.
• Ryan is tied for seventh in the Big South with 18 RBI. He had a career day on Saturday, March 11 with 5 RBI in the second game against Iona.
• The Lancers are fifth in the Big South with 34 doubles as a team.
• Dix leads Longwood with six doubles, which is tied for fifth in the Big South.
James Nelson and
Hayden Harris both have five doubles apiece.
• Longwood is third in the Big South with 29 stolen bases, and the Lancers are 29-34 when attempting to steal.
•
Ethan Barnes leads the team with six stolen bases, and he is 6-6 on the season. He is tied for seventh in the Big South.
• Twelve different players have stolen a base for Longwood, and eight players have stolen at least two.
• Barnes was the Big South Freshman of the Week on March 13, the first time the Lancers have won a weekly honor from the Big South this season.
• Defensively, Longwood's .973 fielding percentage is tied for second best in the Big South, behind only Gardner-Webb.
• On the mound,
Andrew Potojecki leads the Big South with a 1.66 ERA. The righthander has not surrendered more than two earned runs in a single outing this season.
• In his most recent outing, Potojecki set a career best with eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings. He gave up two unearned runs on six hits and a walk to earn his first win of the 2023 campaign.
• Potojecki is second on the team with 20 strikeouts behind only
Logan Berrier. Berrier has a team high 21 strikeouts.
• He and Potojecki also tied for eighth in the Big South with 21.2 innings of work.
• Potojecki leads the Big South with 12 batters struck out looking. Berrier is tied for third with eight.
•
Andrew Melnyk has served as a strikeout artist out of the bullpen. The lefty is averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning with 18 K's in 9.1 innings and sports a 0.96 ERA.
• The Virginia Beach native earned a relief win after not surrendering a run in 2.0 innings to open the three-game series against Iona. He struck out four without giving up a run and only allowed one hit and one walk.
• In the series opener against Delaware State, he entered with Longwood holding a 5-4 lead. After issuing a leadoff walk, Melnyk proceeded to strike out six straight to end the game and earn the save.
• Guillermo Garcia put together a strong outing on Wednesday against Richmond. He earned his second save of the season by retiring the side in order to preserve a 7-5 win.
#GoWood #HorsePower
