FARMVILLE, Va. – The offense came to play to start 2024 for Longwood baseball. The Lancers (2-0) ripped off 39 runs in two games in a two-game sweep of Siena.
 
Willie Havens racked up seven RBI, and Tanner Thomas added six more, but plenty of Lancers did damage at the plate on a cool Saturday afternoon at Buddy Bolding Stadium. Longwood won the opener 27-13 before winning game two 12-2 over Siena (0-2) in the first meeting between the two teams in program history.
 
Game 1: Longwood 27, Siena 13
 
Longwood's offense started early and was relentless. Despite staring down a 4-0 deficit after half an inning, the Lancers batted around once.
 
Then, they did it again. Willie Havens clubbed a two-run home run to open up the scoring, and the Lancers drew five walks. Plus, the team was hit by a pitch four times.
 
When the damage was tallied up, Longwood sent 18 to the plate, forced three different pitchers to take the mound for Siena, and led 13-4.
 
While Siena cut it to 13-7 in the next half inning, Longwood piled on three more runs in the third, with Havens adding a two-run double to his tally.
 
He finished the game 3-5 with three runs and five RBI.
 
All in all, Longwood had eight doubles on the day, with Drew Camp hitting two of them. Fourteen players had an RBI, and 15 players recorded a base hit.
 
Siena hit five homers, but the Lancer onslaught was unstoppable. Longwood scored in six of the eight innings they went to the plate.
 
Dominick D'Ercole (1-0) earned the win for the Lancers after coming on in relief in the third inning. He pitched through the fifth and gave up three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out four.
 
Arnad Mulamekic (0-1) took the loss for Siena.
 
Game 2: Longwood 12, Siena 2
 
While not as explosive as game one, Longwood's offense still found a way to do damage. This time, it was the bottom of the Lancer order.
 
Tanner Thomas drove in a career best four runs, and the bottom four in the Lancer order combined to drive home eight of the team's 12 runs.
 
Drew Camp put the Lancers on the board with an RBI double in the second, and Noah Campanelli roped an RBI triple one batter later for a 2-0 lead.
 
While Siena cut the lead to 2-1 two innings later, the Lancers loaded the bases and answered with four runs in the fourth. Havens capped it with a two-run single for a 6-1 lead.
 
Thomas then helped Longwood close it out with four RBI between the fifth and sixth innings to put the game out of reach.
 
Ethan Walker (1-0) earned the win for Longwood after striking out eight in 3.2 innings of work. Sean Gibbons pitched the final three innings and struck out five without surrendering a run to earn the save.
 
Alistair Morin (0-1) took the loss for Siena.
 
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood hosts Siena on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Buddy Bolding Stadium for the series finale.
 
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