The First Pitch:
• Longwood wraps up non-conference play with a home game against in-state foe VCU on Tuesday night.
• It will be Salute To Heroes Night, sponsored by Haley Auto Mall, at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
• In addition to honoring first responders, it will also be PEFYA night. There will be a firetruck at the venue, and a Bojangles food truck and Ice Cream Delight will also be present.
• The game will feature giveaways throughout the night, and kids can run the bases after the game with a postgame autograph session.
• The Lancers played on the road at VCU earlier in the season and dropped a narrow 5-2 game.
• VCU has won seven straight against the Lancers, with Longwood's last win coming in a 10-9 thriller in Farmville in 2016. C.J. Roth and Sammy Miller combined for four RBI in that win.
• The Lancers are ramping back up to close the season after nearly one week off due to finals. The team played at No. 10 Duke on Sunday afternoon for their first game in eight days.
• The Lancers are 13-8 at home this season in Buddy Bolding Stadium.
• Longwood then hits the road for a series at Presbyterian this weekend before returning home to host Winthrop to close the regular season.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood had a bye week in Big South play and traveled down to take on No. 10 Duke on Sunday afternoon.
• The Lancers had the Blue Devils on the ropes, but Duke rallied for nine-run eighth inning to take the lead 13-9.
• Longwood jumped out to an early lead after plating runs in each of the first four innings.
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Luis DeLeon put the Lancers on the board with a sacrifice fly in the first, and
Tanner Thomas capped the three-run inning with an RBI double.
• The Lancers ground out three more runs through the next two innings for a 6-1 lead.
• DeLeon extended it to 7-1 with an RBI double in the fourth, and the Lancers led 9-3 off a two-run double by
Collin Hughes in the seventh.
• However, Duke answered with a run in the seventh and a nine-run eighth inning. Luke Storm capped the rally with a go-ahead grand slam that put the Blue Devils up 13-9.
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Brenton Fisher (2-3) took the loss for the Lancers. He gave up three unearned runs in 0.2 innings in the eighth. Owen Proksch (5-2) earned the relief win for the Blue Devils after coming on in the eighth inning.
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 4 games back of fourth with six games left to play.
• The Lancers have three games apieces against Presbyterian and Winthrop left, with both teams just ahead of them in the standings.
• Longwood has played five teams that were ranked at the time of the matchup. The Lancers played against four ACC foes (Virginia, N.C. State, North Carolina, Duke) and Campbell.
• 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 when the Chanticleers were ranked in the top 20.
• The Lancers have scored at least 10 runs nine times this season, and Longwood has won all each time.
• In each of Longwood's 19 wins, the team has scored at least five runs. The Lancers are 19-6 when scoring at least five runs.
• In addition, the Lancers are 13-3 when outhitting their opponents this season.
•
Gregory Ryan, Jr. has been a big part of the run production, with the redshirt-senior posting a team-best 51 RBI on the season.
• Ryan is in the top 10 in the Big South in RBI (T2nd-51), triples (T1st-4), home runs (9th-11), slugging percentage (6th-.618) and OPS (10th-.997).
• The Lancer offense loves doubles and has hit 86, which is third in the league. Ryan and
Eliot Dix lead the team with 12 apiece.
Hayden Harris has 11.
• Longwood is second 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.
• As a team, Longwood has had 35.6 percent of its base knocks go for extra bases. That number ranks third in the Big South.
• Dix is Longwood's hits leader with 58, and he sports a .333 batting average that is the top mark on the team.
• Dix has had a team-best 19 multi-hit games, and Ryan is second with 13 multi-hit games. Dix has had two five-hit games for Longwood.
• Ryan leads the team with 14 multi-RBI games, and he is the only player with a five RBI game. He has done that twice.
• Longwood has hit 38 home runs as a team, which is seventh 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.
• Ryan has a team-best 11 homers.
James Nelson,
Hayden Harris and Dix are second on the team with five homers.
• Longwood is fourth in the Big South with 72 stolen bases, and the Lancers are 72-86 on attempts.
•
Ethan Barnes leads the team and is 14-14 on stolen bases on the season.
• Ryan has been on fire recently with a .361 batting average (13-36) in his past 10 games. Eight of his 13 base hits during that stretch have gone for extra bases: five doubles, one triple and two homers.
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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 16 appearances.
• Guillermo Garcia, Jr. has also been excellent out of the bullpen on the whole. He has three saves and a relief win while striking out 30 in 28.1 innings. He has made 13 appearances.
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Ethan Walker has come on strong as a starter in the latter half of the season. He has won a trio of games in his six starts and has a 3.82 ERA on the season in 37.2 innings with 33 strikeouts.
#GoWood #HorsePower
