The First Pitch:
• Longwood hosts Radford for a three-game series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Buddy Bolding Stadium to close out the month of April.
• Following this weekend, Longwood only has two conference series left. The team heads to Presbyterian May 12-14 and hosts Winthrop May 18-20.
• Radford took two of three from the Lancers in 2022. The two sides split the first two games, with Longwood claiming a 10-6 win in game two. However, the Highlanders won the finale 6-5 in a tight finish.
• Longwood took a three-game weekend series in 2021. That season, the two sides played five times as part of a modified conference schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Radford won the two midweek matchups while the Lancers won the three-game weekend series.
• The Lancers are 10-17 against their in-state rivals since joining the Big South in 2013. Three games have gone into extra innings, and 12 of the 27 matchups have been decided by two runs or less.
• The Lancers are 11-7 at home overall and 5-2 in their past seven home games. The two losses came to a Campbell team that is now ranked in the top 10.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood dropped the first two games of the series at Charleston Southern before coming back to win the series finale in thrilling fashion.
• CSU won the first game 7-4 before taking game two 5-0 behind strong pitching performances.
• However, Longwood turned aside the Charleston Southern quest for a sweep on Sunday in a 9-7 win.
• The Lancers went to extra innings for the first time this season, and
Hayden Harris hit two runners home with an RBI single in the 10th that put Longwood up for good, 9-7.
• After both sides were scoreless through four innings, Harris put Longwood up in the fifth with a solo home run.
Collin Hughes swatted a solo homer one batter later for a 2-0 lead, and Longwood led 3-0 after the inning.
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Gregory Ryan, Jr. cranked a three-run home run as part of a four-run seventh to give Longwood a 7-0 lead, but Charleston Southern scored seven runs across the seventh and eighth to tie the game back up.
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Dominick D'Ercole came on in the eighth on the mound and eventually earned the win with a gritty pair of scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th.
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Ethan Walker was strong in his first conference start with 4.2 scoreless innings and six strikeouts.
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 top four teams in the Big South advance to the Big South Tournament following the conclusion of the regular season. Currently, Longwood sits five games back of fourth with nine games to play.
• Longwood's top win this season came against Big South favorite and then No. 14 Campbell on April 15. Campbell has climbed into the top 10 since, but the win was the highest ranked win in Longwood history.
• The win over Campbell was the team's first over a team in the top 20 in its Division I history.
• Longwood last beat ranked teams in 2015 and 2016. The Lancers beat Coastal Carolina once in each of those seasons.
• The series with Campbell was the fourth time this season the Lancers have played an opponent who was in the top 25 at the time the two teams met.
• The Lancers have scored at least 10 runs eight times this season, and Longwood has won all eight games when it has scored in double digits.
• In each of Longwood's 17 wins, the team has scored at least five runs. The Lancers are 17-5 when scoring at least five runs.
• In addition, the Lancers are 12-2 when outhitting their opponents this season.
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Eliot Dix leads Longwood with 53 hits and is seventh in the Big South.
• Dix has had a team-best 17 multi-hit games. He is tied for ninth in the Big South in batting average at .333.
• The Lancers are third in the Big South in doubles with 77.
• Dix again leads Longwood, and he has hit 12. He is tied for fifth in the Big South.
Gregory Ryan, Jr. is second on the team with 11, and
Hayden Harris has 10.
• Longwood is tied for the lead in the Big South in triples.
Gregory Ryan, Jr. has hit four, which is tied for first in the league, while
Quincy Sippio and
Luis DeLeon have each hit two.
• Longwood has hit 37 home runs as a team, which is sixth in the Big South.
• The team hit a season-best four home runs on Tuesday, March 28 at Richmond.
• Longwood has had 10 multi-homer games this year, and the team hit a home run in five straight games from March 25-31.
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Gregory Ryan, Jr. leads Longwood with 11 home runs, which is tied for sixth in the Big South.
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James Nelson is second on the team with five homers, and Dix and Harris have both hit four.
• Ryan has been on fire recently with a .314 batting average (11-35) in his past 10 games. Nine of his 11 base hits during that stretch have gone for extra bases with five doubles, two triples and two home runs.
• He has posted a whopping 15 of the team's 40 RBI, and he has also scored a team-best seven runs.
• Longwood is third in the Big South with 68 stolen bases, and the Lancers are 68-80 on attempts.
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Ethan Barnes leads the team and is 10-10 on stolen bases on the season.
• Longwood's offense has been at its best in the second and eighth innings this season.
• The Lancers have outscored their opposition 34-26 in the second inning this year, and the 34 runs in the second inning are the second-most among the nine innings.
• The Lancer offense has scored 35 runs in eighth innings, the most of any inning.
• Longwood has also outscored its opponents 28-23 in the fifth inning and 28-23 in the seventh inning.
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Dominick D'Ercole has been one of the top arms out of Longwood's bullpen this season. He has one relief win and a team-best four saves across 14 appearances. Over Longwood's last 10 games, D'Ercole holds a 3.00 ERA over 9.0 innings, and he has struck out five while holding teams to a .233 batting average against him.
#GoWood #HorsePower
